Week 18!

How far along? 18 Weeks 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: yay! 2-3# weight gain!
Maternity clothes?  normal shirts, wearing the pants more and more!
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: a lot better this week!
Best moment this week: hearing the heart beat once again, feeling the baby move every day, lots of fluttering going on these day!  AND getting to schedule our ultrasound to find out the gender!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything?  not that i can think of right now!
Movement: lots of fluttering this week! especially after eating chocolate, ice cream, and ice water!
Food cravings: strawberries, taco pizza, chocolate chip pancakes, blizzards!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet:  yep! still not sure if strangers think I am pregnant or just have a big beer belly!
Gender prediction: Oh man! After hearing the heart beat last Friday decrease from 167 to 147, might be a boy! BUT coworkers had me lay down and perform the wedding ring test, which showed a girl! who knows-- we will see in 4 days!!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Very Happy!!

Looking forward to: So much! But mainly our Dr. appointment on April 18th where we can find out the gender!!!! We are so excited and cannot wait to know the sex!

Easter photo- showing a little bump!

Our Girl or Boy? Easter Egg

This week has been a busy one! Tim and I had a Dr.'s appointment on Friday April 6th, right before head back to Grand Forks for Easter. The Dr. said our little bean was moving around a ton! We were able to listen to the baby's heart beat once again and it decreased from 162 to 147! Our Dr. said its pretty common depending on what the baby was doing and as I get farther along the heart beat should decrease anyways! But my sister said with both her boys, the heart rate was in the 160's and then decreased to 140's -- her new prediction: boy! We would be super excited and blessed to have either! :) We also were about 5 days behind with our daily progress and were actually at 17 weeks 1 day - we had thought we were only 16 weeks along! Works for me!! THEN our doctor said we can schedule our gender ultrasound anytime after Thursday April 12th, we picked April 18th!! I will be just short of 19 weeks!!!!

After the appointment, Tim and I drove up to Grand Forks for Easter weekend and were able to spend a lot of time with my family! We colored Easter eggs with Logan, went to the Alerus Center for a big huge Easter hunt, baby sat little Carter (learned a lot that night!!!) and were able to spend time at the nursing home with my Grandma Carroll and Grandpa Bernie. My grandma took 2nd place in Wii bowling!! It was a short trip but very eventful! We have a busy April ahead of us!

 Logan at the Easter egg hunt!

16 Weeks!

How far along? 16 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 1# weight gain from last week
Maternity clothes?  maternity pants are becoming pretty comfortable, but still am able to wear my normal shirts
Stretch marks? Nope! still using preventive creams (who knows if they work!)
Sleep: a little more restless this week,  I bought a cheap body pillow at Walmart which seems to help!
Best moment this week:  On Sunday,  I just started to feel little fluttering/popcorn popping feeling going on by my R rib cage region-- yay!! first baby movement!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything?  having a beer with BBQing-- with the nice weather we have been grilling out a lot!
Movement: little fluttering going on here and there!
Food cravings: cantaloupe, sour jelly beans, red grapes, doughnuts!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet:  yep! getting a little bigger every day
Gender prediction: Craving sour jelly beans now makes me think it could be a boy! Still leaning towards girl though
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy- but bloated!

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender-- I have a Dr. appointment this Friday- I called ahead and was wondering since Ill be closer to 17 weeks if we can schedule the ultrasound on Friday as well- but the nurse stated nope! Not til mid April!!! I suppose we can wait awhile longer.... :)

Wow! I can't believe we are already at 4 months! Ive had quite the easy pregnancy so far with only brief morning sickness very early in the first trimester. I was just telling friends today that I am a really enjoying being pregnant!!! This past weekend I helped host a wedding shower for a coworker and then I cleaned out my entire closet and packed away some of my work pants that no longer fit me and decided to go on a  little shopping spree in the cities! I found lots of good deals on maternity clothes-- especially at thrift stores and consignment shops!! I even found a pair of lucky maternity jeans for 10 bucks at a thrift store!!! I googled the same pair and they are selling for over $100 on ebay(used)!! What a steal!  Also, the cashier at old navy could not believe the maternity clothes I was buying were for me, he said "wow, how come you are so small still!" Maybe me feel pretty good since I feel like Im getting bigger and bigger!!!

We are also getting ready for the big Hutchinson city wide garage in a month, and found my parents are going to come down and help us get ready for the big sale (and by that time- we will know the gender (mid April) of our little avocado!!!-- which means lots of good deals at garage sales that weekend as well!)  Happy Easter Everyone!!

15 weeks!

Made it to week 15 and starting to wear a little more maternity clothing each day! So far this week I have felt pretty good with a lot more energy (just in time for spring cleaning!), but haven't had too much of an appetite for some odd reason? Even though the appetite has decreased, my belly is growing every day and people are starting to notice my bump more and more at work! Very exciting! One of my coworkers felt by belly and said its starting to feel nice and hard!!!
How far along? 15 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Unchanged from last week! In January: 143, February: 138, March: 141 allll month!
Maternity clothes?  a few here and there...my dress pants for work are getting pretty tight, might have to go shopping for some dress in pants in MSP this weekend!
Stretch marks? No - using mustela stretch mark cream and bert's bees mama bee belly butter
Sleep: sleeping on my back is not as comfortable as before, laying on my L side a lot!
Best moment this week:  We are getting closer and closer to finishing our basement and just installed a gas fireplace, can't wait to have a nice cozy basement before the baby gets here!
Have you told family and friends: Yes! not yet on Facebook, probably at 20 weeks!
Miss Anything?  fitting into my normal jeans/pants and not worrying about what I can and can't eat!
Movement: Haven't felt anything yet, but very excited to feel the baby!
Food cravings: salt and vinegar chips, BLTs, green beans, pears, blackberries and raspberries
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet:  Yes, its really starting to come along now!
Gender prediction: Tim predicts girl! I have not quite sure yet, but kind of leaning towards girl as well
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy- but bloated!
Looking forward to: Finding out the gender, decorating the nursery, & feeling the baby move! 

The First Trimester!

How far along? 14 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 1-2lbs! Finally I have gained a little weight, and I haven't even been nauseated!
Maternity clothes?  My sister Cassidy gave me a tub of maternity clothes and I  bought a few shirts! The shirt above is actually XS in maternity! First day of wearing something maternity to work was today!
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Sleeping great
Best moment this week: Celebrating my birthday all week long and getting to spend time with all of Tim's family!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything?  Having coffee in the morning!
Movement: Haven't felt anything yet, but very excited to feel the baby!
Food cravings: Kiwi, cantaloupe, strawberries, donuts, ice cream!
Anything making you queasy or sick: I could not even stand to look at a vegetable/salad or chicken for the whole first trimester! I even tried to make carrot cake muffins to try and get in my veggies- ended up tossing them all because they made me sick to my stomach!!!  I always ate chicken and salad before I was pregnant! It is crazy how your body changes! But now I can finally eat veggies again!
Have you started to show yet:  As of March 17th, my belly all of a sudden popped out! Tim really notices it now!
Gender prediction: According to the baking soda test: Girl, according to my dad's special test: Boy! Everyone in my family thinks Girl
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Finding out the gender, decorating the nursery, & feeling the baby move! 

Finally made it out of the first trimester! Starting to finally have a little more energy again! This was also my birthday week and Tim spoiled me a little too much! I was surprised at work with a big bouquet of balloons with a scheduled manicure/pedicure on Monday, then on Wednesday 2 dozen roses came to work with another gift card for a 1 hour massage!!! We then left for Arizona on Thursday to celebrate my actual birthday with Tim's family and his Grandma Ireland who turned 89 on the same day I turned 27!  

On a side note-- the day I turned 27 I swear I woke up and the baby had grown and all of a sudden I had a bump! See above! Starting to really feel pregnant now!!! 

On February 26th my sister Cassidy and brother in law Tony had her second little boy: Carter Anthony!!! I went back to Grand Forks to help give him his first bath!! What a sweetie and he is such a good little baby!  Carter and our baby will be about 6 months apart!! We are excited for the two cousins to be good friends!!! 

At 12 weeks our baby's heart beat was at 162 BPM-- still feeling good! I think our puppy Fenton knows something is up, he had to be included in the photo ha! 

So far I haven't had any morning sickness except for maybe a day or two- which might have been the flu! I have just been super tired trying to make it through the work day! 

 Had our first doctor's appointment to confirm the results and found out I was 6 weeks along with a due date of September 13th, 2012! We also had an ultrasound at the first visit to see our little sweet pea!

We went back for another appointment at 8 weeks and heard our baby's heart beat for the first time!!! It was amazing! Tim heard it first, even before the the doctor!

We found out on January 8th, 2012 (after maybe 10 pregnancy tests-- just to be sure..:) we were expecting!!!

Tim and I are happy to announce.... :)

We found out we are expecting a little bundle of joy in September of 2012 and couldn't be more thrilled!!! We are so excited to be parents and cannot wait to meet our little baby Ireland. Also, we are hoping to use this blog as a tool to let family and friends know all the exciting things we are going through in the process!! Up next, belly photos! Stay tuned....

guest bedroom headboard.

I just finished my first furniture piece....not exactly the color of stain i wanted. I guess i should have listened to the directions and tested it first! oh well, little rustic but pretty cool.

 Why lights you might ask? no clue...but actually pretty cool when its completely dark!

 The color was supposed to match the frames on the walls....the picture on the side of the can lied to me!

Seems like i never get enough time to finish the photos!!! but they are coming!