18 Weeks and Feeling Movement!!!

How far along?  18+3 today (18 weeks exactly when I took the photo above)

How big is baby?  Around 6 inches from crown to rump, and right now baby weighs around 8.5oz.  Depending on the website/app, we're either at the size of an heirloom tomato, a mango, or a sweet potato.  :)  Mmmm.  Is anyone else getting hungry?!    

Total weight gain:  Between 3-4 pounds depending on the day.

Maternity clothes?  I'm loving my new maternity "wardrobe!"  Wardrobe in quotations, of course, because I don't have that many items ... but I've been doing a good job of rotating and making the most of my non-maternity items that still fit!  On the shopping list this week is a maternity swimsuit ... or at least just a tankini top.  My bottoms fit just fine, but my current (non-maternity) tankini top is extremely tight and uncomfortable.  I went to a deep water exercise class the other day and I felt like it was trying to cut off my circulation!!!  

Sleep:  No complaints about sleep right now!  I've really been sleeping well lately.  The main issue is that I want to sleep allllll the time.  I'm having such a tough time getting up in the morning for work - I wake up wishing every day was Saturday!     

Cravings:  I know it's a weird one, but the last couple of days I've REALLY been craving tacos.  Old school tacos, nothing fancy ... just a hard shell with some taco beef, lettuce, and cheese.  Simple.  Methinks I'll be picking up taco fixings on the way home from work today!  

Best moment this week:  Two great moments in the last week and a half!  First of all, we found out that my sister-in-law is pregnant AND due just a week after me!  I am due 10/29 and she is due 11/7 (coincidentally, also my mother-in-law's birthday!).  I just feel so overwhelmingly happy about this - she and her husband have been trying for baby #2 for several years and I'm so happy things worked out.  I'm also THRILLED that our baby will have a cousin so close in age!  The other fantastic moment happened on Monday ... and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and this morning.  Baby Smith is moving!  And I can feel it!  We went swimming down at my SIL's on Monday, and when we got home I felt two distinct little kicks.  They felt unlike anything I had experienced so far and I couldn't believe it!  Since then, I've felt movement every single day and it's just amazing.  Sometimes I sit and concentrate and say "move baby, move!" so that I can pay attention to the movement when it happens, but surprisingly, the baby isn't quite following my orders yet.  Aaaaand probably won't for a long time.  :)  I am really looking forward to when these movements can be felt from the outside so Matt can feel his baby kick! 

Movement: YES!!!  Yay!!!

Gender:  We'll know in just under two weeks ... The concensus by far is girl girl girl.  Anyone care to place a wager? 

Belly Button in or out? Innie.

What I miss:  Nothing this week!  Very happy and content.  :)

Milestones:  Feeling the baby kick was a HUGE milestone for me.  It's so easy to think that everything is just too good to be true ... sometimes I still can't believe I'm pregnant and this is even happening.  I know it sounds weird, but it just doesn't seem real sometimes!  Feeling those little movements ... well, everything just seems a lot more real to me now.  PLUS we have officially ordered furniture!  The crib and glider have been ordered and should be here within a couple of weeks - VERY exciting.  We also started going through the guest room (soon to be the nursery) and got rid of a bunch of stuff, reorganized, moved things around, and are starting to get this place ready for a baby! 

17 Weeks = Exhaustion!

17 weeks as of Monday, May 21st!  Which was also, coincidentally, Matt's 30th birthday!  Big things happening in the Smith family.  :)  It's been a great week!  I went up to Michigan over the weekend to attend Lisa's bridal shower, which was lots of fun.  Here is the one and only photo I took:

Anyway, the shower was fun and I am SO glad I live within driving distance and was able to make the trek up to celebrate!  Unfortunately, the weekend totally wiped me out.  The 6 hour drive home was really rough and I was thisclose to sleeping in the backseat of my car in a McDonald's parking lot to avoid driving the rest of the way home.  Overly dramatic?  Yes, totally.  But I was totally wiped out and it seemed like a fairly good idea at the time!  Thankfully, I powered through and made it home (safely in one piece) and I have NEVER been so happy to get home and get into my bed!  I still feel like I'm recovering and catching up on sleep, as ridiculous as that sounds.  I guess I just need to remember that my body is really working hard right now, and sometimes I just have to take it easy!  

That being said, here are this week's important things:

How far along?  17 week and 2 days today (17 weeks when I took the photo above)

How big is baby?  Baby Smith is now the size of a sweet potato - around 5.6 inches from head to tush and around 6.7 ounces.  Growing by leaps and bounds!  And I'm to the point where I literally feel like my belly is growing every. single. day.  Case in point?  I took the photo below yesterday, one day after my 17 week photo above.  Every day I wake up and look in the mirror and think, yep!  It's bigger!

Total weight gain:  Not sure ... haven't weighed myself recently, but I think I'm finally up a couple of pounds.    

Maternity clothes? Yes!  My parents met me in Grand Rapids on Sunday and treated me to a little maternity shopping spree.  I'm now the proud owner of several items ... including the adorable dress I'm modeling above in my (very sleep-looking) 17 week photo above!  

Sleep:  Sleeping great lately.  I started taking zantac every evening, and while I'm still dealing with heartburn, it's starting to feel a little more manageable.    

Cravings: Nothing really this week - probably for the best!    

Best moment this week:  It's definitely a tie between hanging out with Lisa and stepping in dog diarrhea with my bare foot on the carpet in the middle of the night last night.  I'll let you decide which I'm serious about.      

Movement: About the same as last week ... a couple of little flutters that I can't really distinguish as being the baby or not.  I'll keep you posted on this one.  :)

Gender: Dunno!  Lots more girl votes, and one more boy vote.  We'll find out three weeks from today!    

Belly Button in or out? Innie.

What I miss:  Eating raw sushi and staying awake past 9:30.  Oh, and being able to take roadtrips without feeling like I've been run over by a truck!    

Milestones:  Nothing new this week - besides being one week closer to meeting this little baby!  :)

16 Weeks = Pickles

Well, my 16 week post is a few days late (I was 16 weeks on Monday), but I'm blaming my computer for having some photo uploading issues.  This past week and a half has been The Week Of The Pickle.  No, that's not a euphemism.  I am just so in love with these Claussen kosher dill pickles that I have one almost every day.  They are so perfect and crunchy and ... mmmm.  Yep.  I'm going to need to have one when I finish writing this.  Sigh.    

Anyway.  Without further ado ...

How far along?  16 weeks and 3 days today (16 weeks exactly when I took the photo above)  

How big is baby?  According to the What to Expect app, Baby Smith is the size of a turnip - 5 inches long and 5 oz.  The BabyBump app says onion, 5.1 inches, and 5.9 oz.  :)

Total weight gain:  Still fluctuating up a pound and down a pound.    

Maternity clothes? Yes.  I don't have anything new since last week, just rotating through the 3-4 things I own with some closet staples like cardigans.  I think I have discovered the secret to buying minimal maternity clothes - buy plain, solid color stuff that can be rotated easily with pretty much anything else in my closet.  So my wardrobe is fairly boring these days, but I don't even care anymore.  

Sleep:  Sleeping pretty well, besides the almost-constant heartburn that has been plaguing me.  My midwife told me to pick up some zantac, so I'll be trying that out and hoping for the best!  

Cravings: Pickles!  Yum!    

Best moment this week:  Hearing Baby Smith's loud, strong heartbeat this morning at my midwife appointment.  At 8 week sand 12 weeks, the heartrate was in the 160s and this morning it was in the 150s.  Do we have any gender guesses?    

Movement: Over the past few days, I've had a couple of little flutters but to be honest, they are so very subtle I can't really tell if it's the baby or just things moving around in there.  I'm really trying to pay attention to anything I'm feeling these days and I can't wait to feel the baby for real!  

Gender: We scheduled the anatomy scan this morning for June 13th at 1:00.  Pretty much everyone thinks we're having a girl, and I'm starting to believe them!  Still not sure yet, though.    

Belly Button in or out? Innie.  I've had two laparoscopic surgeries with incisions in my belly button, so I'm kind of interested to see what it will do!  :)  

What I miss:  Staying awake past 9:30 to watch good TV.  Ha.    

Weekly Wisdom:  I still don't know how I'm supposed to have any wisdom.  :)  

Milestones: Hearing baby's heartbeat this morning, and scheduling my 20 week ultrasound!  Cannot believe we're just a month away from half baked!  Also, on Saturday I went to my first prenatal yoga class.  Not sure if I'm going to keep going to the classes because they are fairly expensive, but I will definitely be doing some prenatal yoga at home.  I walked into the yoga place and found a wall full of these fun cloth diapers!  We are going to be cloth diapering and I love seeing all the fun colors!  :)

Blogging Motivation?

Big Ten Baby!

So!  About a week after my last post (and yes, I know it was three months ago!), and about a week after my 30th birthday, Matt and I found out that we were expecting!  As I hinted at in my birthday post, our journey to become parents has not been an easy road - nor has it been as challenging a journey as so many other couples struggle with.  It took us sixteen months (and three cycles of fertility meds) to get to this point, and frankly ... it still doesn't seem real.  I have been wanting to blog about Baby Smith for awhile (we officially "came out" on Facebook and Twitter a few weeks ago), but I think it's just been so hard for me to believe that this is really happening.  After wanting something so much, for so long, and then it finally happens ... it's very overwhelming.  So basically, this pregnancy is flying by and I feel like I'm not doing a very good job of focusing on what's happening!  Which means that maybe, JUST maybe, it's time to start up the old blog again.  I'd like to keep track of my weekly photos and stuff (because I have been HORRIBLE at taking photos so far).  So, I'm not making any promises, but let's just see where this goes. :)

{Insert crazy caption here about pee stick obsession}

I found out I was pregnant on February 17th, 2012.  My due date is October 29th - SO thrilled to be having a fall baby!  Fall is my favorite season, and our wedding anniversary is 11/8.  My gut feeling is that we will have a November baby, and not an October baby, but who knows!  Here's our 8 week ultrasound photo:

Gummy bear baby!

Anyway, my photos from 4 weeks through 14 weeks are kind of spotty and inconsistent, so I'm going to start with today's photo (15 weeks!  Yay!) and just consider myself caught up!  :)

How far along?  15 weeks exactly!  


How big is baby?  Around 3 ounces, measuring between 4-5 ounces in length.  Little peanut!

Total weight gain:  I'm fluctuating between one pound below prepregnancy weight and one pound over.  So I guess I'll take the average and say ... no weight gain yet.  

Maternity clothes? I have one pair of maternity capris (worn in the photo above and almost every day of every week) and a maternity jean skirt that is a bit too big for me still.  I have a couple of maternity t-shirts and tanks but mostly just repurposing my wardrobe (don't the fashion bloggers call that a "remix"??) and trying to make non-maternity stuff last as long as possible.  Maternity clothes are expensive!  Oh, but I did just score this super cute maternity dress from Gilt Groupe to wear to Lisa's bridal shower in a couple of weeks (and maybe rehearsal dinner in July, too!):

Yes, my self-portraits are usually taken at my work bathroom.  What of it?

Sleep:  I slept absolutely horribly all through the first trimester, with crazy dreams and getting up to pee 800 times a night.  Then, a couple of weeks ago, I started sleeping GREAT and it's been so wonderful ever since!  The only thing bothering me is that I will sleep in one position for most of the night, and when I wake up, my arm is always asleep.  #firstworldproblems.   

Cravings: I was really into fruit a few weeks ago and couldn't get enough strawberries, watermelon and raspberries.  But right now, no real cravings or food aversions, which is great!  

Best moment this week: Having Matt take the photo above ... and realizing that Baby Smith has definitely popped over the last few days!  My ambiguously fat beer gut/baby gut is slowly turning into a for-real baby belly!  

Movement: None yet - I cannot WAIT for this! 

Gender: Team Green for now ... we will find out in about 5 weeks if we're having a boy or a girl!  Almost everyone has told me they think I'm having a girl.  Matt and I have absolutely no idea or intuition at all, so who knows!  

Belly Button in or out? Innie. 

What I miss:  Really, nothing.  I am so very happy and thankful to be here ... I couldn't care less about missing out on wine, or delicious soft cheeses, or even sushi!  Oh, okay, I do miss something.  I miss being able to eat something - anything - without it giving me crazy heartburn.  I eat a strawberry = heartburn.  I have a sip of water = heartburn.  ARGH.   

Weekly Wisdom:  Well, I have no wisdom.  I don't know what I'm talking about yet.  :)

Milestones: Happily cruising through the 2nd trimester and feeling great!  


So, there ya have it.  Baby Smith, coming 10/29/12!  Oscar cannot WAIT to have a baby brother or sister.  Can't you tell?