First Timers

Bron and I had our 1^st official baby shopping outing this afternoon. Our 1^st stop was Buy Buy Baby. They just opened a Buy Buy Baby (I had not previously heard of it) on the Southside. If you too have not heard of it, or been there yet, it’s EXACTLY like Bed Bath and Beyond – only with all baby things. I know. Amazing. I’m definitely registering there. So I decided we should go and take a tour and only check out 1-2 big ticket items so we wouldn't get overwhelmed our 1^st time baby shopping :). It was really cool and I didn’t get too side tracked – of course Bron really helped in that department lol. They have a few nurseries set up, just as they do bedding and beds at BB&B. I really like the changing tables with the drawers underneath and came across one that was staged with wipes and newborn diapers. I picked up the teeny tiny diaper and...lost it haha! Tears right there in the store. As I walked away embarrassed, trying to hide from anyone that might be able to see me I started to tear more because I was tearing on our 1^st trip hah. So I pulled it together and Bron was already trying to show me another changing table he liked. We checked out the City Mini stroller (awesome!) and a few other things. We did make 1 purchase…our 1^st pack of Pampers – size 1.

Off to Barns & Noble we went. Every boy name I throw at Bron he immediately vetoes, so I wanted to get a book to keep all our suggestions together in one place. (We are 90% sure on our girl name.) While we were there we got baby’s 1^st book. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a childhood favorite for Bron or I but it was short, sweet, and shiny so I thought it will be a good 1^st book. That might be the thing we’re most excited about in the nursery, the book collection. We can’t wait to fill the shelves with children’s books! Old ones, new ones, tall ones, short ones, ones with texture, ones with noise…BOOKS!

Our last stop was to Old Navy. I’ve been sporting this belly band for a few weeks now and I thought it might be time to at least try on some maternity jeans. I only had them on for a few minutes, but OMG what a life changer…okay maybe not that dramatic...but they were awesome! SO much more comfortable than the stupid belly band!! They just didn’t want to fit my calves (capris) and were a little loose on the booty. So we’re going to Motherhood tomorrow after work to start my maternity collection. Bring on the BUMP! ;)

I will leave you with some exciting things for this week: Tomorrow I'm buying my 1st of many maternity clothing items, getting back to the GYM (because I have some energy back & it feels awesome), and our ultrasound that is scheduled on Friday. This ultrasound is especially exciting because SOMETIMES the tech can tell the gender on the 12 week ultrasound. I'll be 12 weeks and 2 days so we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed! 

11 weeks!!

Mother's day before our lunch date <3 

How far along? 11 weeks 

Total weight gain/loss: Still only about 3lbs 
Maternity clothes? Not yet. 
Stretch marks? Nope! But my belly is getting monkey-like with all this hair! What the heck! Haha
Sleep: I'm sleeping well. 
Best moment this week: Felling good.
Have you told family and friends: Yes! 
Miss Anything? I've missed alcohol this week. I didn't think I would even think about a drink while pregnant, since I didn't drink much before. But I get in the mood for, or cravings for wine, beer and margaritas. :)
Food cravings: Ice cream. I got Ben & Jerry's American Dream. YUM. 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not this week, thank goodness!
Have you started to show yet: A small bump that is most likely bloating. But it's in the right spot so that's all that counts right? ;) But I can tell baby is getting bigger. 
Gender prediction: This has changed this week too. I'm back to not being sure. (Indecisiveness...also a semi-new thing during pregnancy. So many huge decisions!)
Belly Button in or out? In & hairy...ew 
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy :)
Weekly Wisdom: Don't listen to all the crazies. Everyone around you seems to be a doctor when you're pregnant. Listen to your intuition and your own doctor. 
Looking forward to: I'm on serious "feel watch" for the 1st flutter of movement. I do realize that usually this doesn't happen for some time, but it CAN happen this early, lol. 

10 weeks

Bitty Baby Butrimas <3

We had our 2nd doctor's visit yesterday. It was pretty awesome. I really love everyone at the office. Bron and I had a good time, which sounds strange, I know :). It's just super exciting! 

How far along? 10 weeks 

Total weight gain/loss: According to the doctor's visit yesterday only 1lb. But  my 1st "weigh in" there was at 6 weeks. So I'll still say 3lbs. 
Maternity clothes? No. I think I'll have to buy a pair of maternity jeans soon though. The belly band is working now. 
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: I'm sleeping well. Still have a lot of back pain. 
Best moment this week: Yesterday at the doctor's: seeing our little baby wave, and move all around. 
Have you told family and friends: Yes! 
Miss Anything? Just my energy. 
Food cravings: I didn't really have many cravings this week. 
Anything making you queasy or sick: I've been feeling really well this week, it's been awesome! I still have a pretty overactive gag reflex when it comes to certain foods. 
Have you started to show yet: A little bump so far. It's weird, I actually look pregnant in certain clothes now. 
Gender prediction: Boy
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy & moody! Haha, I guess that's just plain moody ;). 
Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy it!
Looking forward to: All the fun and exciting things ahead! Mainly our next appt in 2 weeks, showing more, and feeling the baby for the 1st time. 

Oh JOYous Day

A little progress pic for ya ;).  Makes it real, huh? I'm not sure if you can see the captions because the photo showed up so small, but from left to right: 7 weeks, 8 weeks and 9 weeks.

I grabbed this survey off a blog that I follow. I think it's a cute way to let you all in on the pregnancy week-by-week. 

How far along? 9 weeks today

Total weight gain/loss: 2.8 lbs
Maternity clothes? Not just yet. I did buy a belly band. I don't really like it though...
Stretch marks? Hopefully never, but no, we're clear right now.
Sleep: I'm sleeping okay, but my favorite position is on my back right now. The unfortunate part is this is causing moderate-extreme lower back pain. I'm going to try to get a body pillow this weekend.
Best moment this week: Today actually. I've been really emotional the last week and today I got a super surprise delivery at work that made me realize that I have just been going about it all wrong ;).
Have you told family and friends: Yes! & the hygienist and the temp agency rep and...lol.
Miss Anything? I did have a craving for a margarita today. I think it was because we had tacos for lunch and Cinco is right around the corner.
Movement: Not yet.
Food cravings: Nothing really on a regular basis. When I was more nauseous I would have to crave something before I could eat. My most specific request was LongHorn loaded mashed potatoes :). And let me tell you, when I tasted them, they tasted like GOLD!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Certain smells make me queasy. Mainly related to food. My puking was really random and I don't think any 1 thing set it off.
Have you started to show yet: A little bump so far
Gender prediction: I think it is going to be a boy, but I know most of our families (us included) are pulling for team pink. But of course, we'll all be thrilled either way.
Belly Button in or out? I've got an "inny".
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Emotional, but happy
Weekly Wisdom: Eat protein for breakfast! I started with eggs & peanut butter this past Monday & haven't been nauseous or sick once this week. YAY!
Looking forward to: My next doctor's appointment and picture #2 of the LO next Wednesday, and this growing bump!

April 18th, 2012

Post from 4/18/12 - reflecting on my 1st appointment:

I'm sitting here in bed, day of our 1st appointment, starting to tear up. It is so amazing (I need a thesaurus) to know that there is a little flicker of a heartbeat inside of me right now. I was hoping after today's appointment I would feel like this. Up until, well this week really, I've doubted that "it's" real. I mean I get the logistics, but it was hard for me to believe.

So at the appointment today they did a urine test, a regular exam (pap), the uterus exam (ouch-more uncomfortable than usual) and then the transvaginal ultrasound. We could see the little flicker right away. She then replayed the sound that was recording (to our surprise) and we actually heard the heartbeat - 126 BPM. I can't even begin to describe the emotion. I just remember thinking "it's real". Then she printed out two pictures for us.

Symptoms this week (today is 6 weeks 6 days):

Hungry

Nauseous (which gets better if I keep a full stomach)

TIRED!

& of course having a sore chest

Last week I was more exhausted. I think it really helped that I changed my hours this week from 7:30-4:30 to 9-6. I get a little bit more sleep, which has had a big payoff.

So far I've sworn off bananas and cheezits. A shame really :/ Some meats also weird me out...which I think is pretty normal.

My next appointment is May 9^th where I’ll get another trans u/s – more pics, yay!

OVbunEN

OVbunEN. We've got a bun in the oven!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha...get it? I saw that little word game on one of my baby board apps.

Here is the story of how we found out...

We started "trying" after our cruise to The Bahamas, so I knew there was a chance that I could be pregnant when my cousins (the Sakakini's, Jeff & Rebecca) came into town with their 2 boys on March 29th. We were making plans to go to dinner that night, and I wanted to have a cocktail with them if I wasn't pregnant, so I thought I should take a test just to check. I didn't have many symptoms, but I did have a couple that were a little out of the ordinary from my regular PMS. I wasn't due for my period until the next day. We got home from the beach and I went to take the test. Not even a minute later this is what I see (16 dpo):

I'm thinking “Where's the "not"?” I'm frozen at this point. My next thoughts were "What do I do now?" The 1st person I see when I come out of my room is Jeff standing at the sink and all I could do was nod my head yes. I can't even remember his response but asking me "Yes what? No way!" so I said "Yes, yes! Come look! Come look!" - motioning to both Jeff & Rebecca. I remember Rebecca being just as frazzled, shaky and excited as I was. Our next question was "how do we tell Bron?!" lol. He was still at work. 

Since our anniversary was that coming Monday we thought to tell him that I bought him an early anniversary present. I got a small box and taped the test to the bottom of the box so it would show "Pregnant" as soon as he opened the box. I closed it and put a bow on top. Bron was due home in 20 minutes. I don't think I've ever looked out the window more times than I did that afternoon, waiting for him to come home. But, Jeff, Rebecca and I had a plan. Jeff was to get Bron a beer, take him out on the back deck and to make sure Bron was sitting down. Rebecca and I were going to come out a little after with the box.

Everything went according to plan. He opened it, his mouth dropped open and all he could say was "Are you serious?!" over and over and then dropped down to his knees kissing my belly.

Jeff recorded it with his cell phone. As soon as we can figure out how to get if off his phone, I will try to post it. :)  

It didn't feel real at all. It was a little hard to adjust to thinking, knowing that I am pregnant. It was like a switch though with the symptoms. The next day I was nauseous off and on all day and the other common symptoms progressed from there. We are just so happy and shocked that it happened so fast. We’re over the moon, really :). Our due date is 12/6/12.

A week later my mom came into town and I had to take another test for her :)

Oh my, DIY!

Well, well, well, it turns out I was not very successful at keeping up with blogging. However, I'm back! In our time apart, I have cooked a few different recipes. I made up a new version of Shepard’s Pie, fried some pickles, and have made various lo-cal/nutritious meals. I've been experimenting with turkey since it is lean and I have been trying to get into shape. But, of course, the fried pickles were the best ;).

During the holidays, and while we had a bit of cooler weather, my husband and I took a little break from working on the yard and the house. OH! We did, excuse me, my husband and his friends built a fire pit in the backyard. Maybe I'll write a small post on that. It was super easy and took about an hour. Anyhow ~ I took a break on the inside of the house, for sure. So, this past Saturday while I was sitting in the recliner on my phone looking at Pinterest (of course), I told myself that I was going to get off my butt and do a project this weekend. So I went out to hubs (who was also off his butt, trimming the trees) and told him my plan to give our laundry "room" a “facelift”. Fifteen minutes later we were in the [new] car on our way to Lowes.

[side note here]…so we were so excited to take the new car to Lowes!! We get to the car after about an hour at Lowes and a huge piece of plywood and long-ass 2x2s and molding pieces later….it doesn’t fit in the new car! HAHA! So I had to take it home and pick up my Jeep to get everything back…

I found a few inspirational posts on Pinterest before we left, so I knew exactly what we needed and what I wanted to do. A special shout-out to the Lowes associate who helped Bron and I. I was totally lost and Bron was getting frustrated, but this gentleman knew exactly how to help us. He pointed us in a cheaper direction, and gave us a few pointers along the way. We got all of our building supplies and then picked up a few items to decorate with at Target.

What we were working with (before)...

Unorganized, messy, and just plain unfinished

This was one of those areas that we never really defined when we moved in. A few things that we didn't know what to do with (spare paper towels) just got stored; my bridal bouquet still hung upside-down from last April, etc. And let's face it, in chaos nothing gets done well...and as you can see with the laundry build up, that was very much so the case here.

We started by sanding and cutting our plywood. I’ll have to remind Bron to get some safety goggles for our next project ;). Bron went inside to put up the supports and I stayed outside to sand and stain. We had many, many speed bumps along the way. I can tell you this much, we will be buying a stud finder the next time we decide to take on a similar project, which will probably be to convert the office into an office + guest room, turning the closet into the desk area – hopefully, sooner than later… ;).

Late night glossing, music, and my love = an awesome 1^st year of marriage kind of night

Since the stain and gloss took many hours to dry, what we thought was going to take a few hours turned into a day and a half project. By Sunday afternoon we were ready to install everything.

Now we have a nice counter space for folding. The lighting, picture frame and flower bouquet brings that “homey” feeling to the space. It feels really nice to have the space finished, pretty and functional. We wanted to put a bar in to hang our “line dry” items. So we put a cheap shower curtain rod up, high enough so that you cannot even notice it unless something is hanging.

We found this really cute lantern lamp at target for about $15 and the vase for the flowers was only $2.50 at Target.

I am now excited to do my laundry. Never, and I mean NEVER have I ever been excited to do my laundry, and I could probably count on one hand the amount of times when I have done all of my laundry, from start to finish, in one day. I HATE folding. I hate doing laundry period, let’s face it. So to be able to say that I am excited to my laundry makes this 1,000 times worth it.

I have to also say that we really enjoyed ourselves. It was a definite bonding experience for Bron and me. We worked well as a team, helped each other out and got the job done. We are pretty proud of our selves and can sit back and admire our workJ.