18 Weeks!

How far along are you?  18 weeks!
How big is baby? S/he is about the size of a sweet potato this week - almost 6" long and over 6 ozs!
Maternity clothes?  I'm not wearing them yet, but I ordered a ton last week :)
Weight -Loss or Gain?  +6 lbs, give or take
Stretch marks?  No
Sleep?  Has been really disjointed lately.  I wake up a lot to toss and turn.
Best moment this week:  Probably when I gave myself a bloody nose on Friday.  That's talent.
Any Movement?  This morning I woke up to baby acrobatics :)  One of us was really excited to be awake!
Food Cravings?  Wholesome/hearty foods, veggies/salads
Food Aversions?  I feel like there's always foods that make me feel gross, but I can never think of them when I'm blogging
Belly Button in or out?  In
What do you miss:  Not having so many restrictions
What are you looking forward to:  Mike being able to feel kicks/movement
What was the BEST part of this week?  I made it through...does that count?
What was the WORST part of this week?  Not being able to dissect a heart because I'm pregnant :(

18w1d

Whoops!  It looks like I've gotten into a bad habit of not posting my blogs in time.  I've decided that I'm just going to post them as I complete them and worry about the bump pictures later.  I've been taking the photos, but with school and work and everything else that's been going on, I don't always have time to upload/crop/post them.  I'll do my best to get them up before 19 weeks!

18 weeks has been very eventful thus far!  Apparently my little Phanatic is really excited about being 18 gestational weeks old today, because when I woke up s/he was throwing a little party in there.  Either that or s/he is a morning person... which scares me. ;)  Either way, I made sure to enjoy his/her acrobatics performance before getting out of bed.  It's funny because sometimes Mike and I will be together and I'll tell him, "your baby is moving," but of course it's too early for him to feel anything.  I'm excited for the day that he'll get to feel the baby on the outside.  Hopefully it's only a few weeks away! :)

Other than increased/stronger baby movements, I think we may be moving towards the fabled 2nd trimester "energy" resurgence.  Although, I *think* people may use the term energy loosely.  If by energy they mean I don't feel like I'm going to fall into a narcoleptic coma at any moment of the day, then I'm there!  Although, I still think people have no idea what they're talking about and/or are overly optimistic.  But hey, it's better than thinking about the fact that I'm almost halfway to the point where I have to get this baby out.... somehow.  Moving on...

Like usual, our to-do list is growing, growing, growing!  We should be going to do our hospital tour and any birthing classes during second trimester (the OB recommends going during second tri in case you go into labor prematurely), however with school/work schedules and the holidays coming up, that may not be possible.  Oh well, I'll be in the very beginning of third tri come 2012 (omg, am I really talking about 2012???), so it shouldn't be too bad.  We're also on the lookout for baby's crib!  Hopefully we'll be able to get a good deal around Black Friday, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't super excited to get some furniture in the nursery.  Although, it probably won't be a good idea to put furniture in since I haven't steam cleaned the carpet yet.  Yes, it's on the list!  Other than that, I'm still on a major mission to organize the whole house.  With the amount of crap baby items on the registry, we are going to need to make sure that everything has a place.

Other than all of that, this weekend will mark Mike and my 3rd anniversary!  Baby and I are really excited for our anniversary dinner this weekend, although I can't believe it will be our last anniversary just the two of us.  It's crazy how quickly everything is changing, although we wouldn't change it for the world!  What a great gift this year. :)

17 Weeks!

How far along are you?  17 weeks!
How big is baby?  Our little Bean is about the size of an onion now :)
Maternity clothes?  Not yet
Weight -Loss or Gain?  +5-6 lbs
Stretch marks?  No
Sleep?  I can't get enough!
Best moment this week:  Starting our baby registries :)  It's getting real now!
Any Movement?  A little here and there
Food Cravings?  Honeycrisp apples, peanut butter, spicy foods
Food Aversions?  Nothing I can think of
Belly Button in or out?  In
What do you miss:  Not being so exhausted all of the time.
What are you looking forward to:  Finishing the nursery
What was the BEST part of this week?  Being productive!  Getting our registries started and a ton of projects completed at home.
What was the WORST part of this week?  Going home sick from work yesterday because I may have overdone it :-/

17 Weeks!

16 Weeks!

How far along are you?  16 weeks!
How big is baby?  Baby is about the size of an avocado this week!
Maternity clothes?  Still negative, although I think I should start investing in a few for future use.
Weight -Loss or Gain?  +5 lbs, give or take
Stretch marks?  No
Sleep?  I have never been so tired in my life.  It is worse now than during first tri.
Best moment this week:  Finishing the majority of the painting in the nursery!
Any Movement?  For the past 5 days or so, I have been having some weird feelings that I think may be the baby.  They are very light and sporadic, so maybe :)
Food Cravings?  Mexican food, honeycrisp apples, cheese, spicy foods
Food Aversions?  Nothing right now
Belly Button in or out?  In
What do you miss:  With all of these headaches, I would love to be able to take better headache medicine than regular strength Tylenol
What are you looking forward to:  I'm so excited for my 16 week appointment on Friday, even though I know it will be no big deal.
What was the BEST part of this week?  Getting so much accomplished this weekend.
What was the WORST part of this week?  The Phillies losing the NLDS :'(

16 Weeks, 1 Day AND a preview of the nursery color! :)

Blog overload this week.  I have been waiting and waiting for some time to upload my 15 week bump photo (so I could finally post my written, but not published blog post) and now it's already week 16!  Oh well, we got so much accomplished, I don't even care.

As of my last post the nursery had been totally emptied.  On Tuesday night, I vacuumed it out and cleaned the (disgustingly dirty) trim.  Once all of that was done, I did the first coat of paint on the trim, which took wayyyy longer than I had anticipated!  On Wednesday night, my mom came over to help me do the second coat of the trim.  Since it went significantly faster, she suggested that we just roll the paint onto the walls to get a head start.  Even though I was nervous about our paint choice (don't ask me why), the color was awesome!  Once we finished, we realized that the paint itself went on so great and covered so well that Mike and I probably wouldn't need to do a second coat.  HALLELUJAH!  While I was at work on Friday, Mike hung the ceiling fan, swapped out all of the receptacles, and taped off the dry trim and ceiling.  That night, we finished the edging and Saturday morning I did a few touch ups.  After removing all of the tape, there are a few areas that need to be touched up, but nothing significant.  I am so thrilled to cross all of that off my to do list!

Because of other projects we have going on, I may have definitely overdid it this weekend.  I took my usual midday nap on both Saturday and Sunday, but by Sunday afternoon I woke up feeling awful.  My head was throbbing and my body was screaming at me to just go to bed.  I attempted to study and tidy up, but I barely got anything accomplished.  I feel like sometimes it's hard for me to accept that I can't do the things that I could do before.  I can't go go go anymore, and it's a bitter pill to swallow.  Not only am I used to doing everything myself (it's kind of hard not to when you work opposite shifts with your husband), but with a baby on the way, I have more to do than ever.  Ironic, huh?

Other than the horrendous exhaustion (seriously, whoever said you get your energy back in second tri is a liar...at least so far), I have a fun new symptom: burning, watery eyes.  Thankfully one of my "helpful" pregnancy websites let me know that this is totally normal.  Awesome.  Add that to the non-stop headaches and the borderline narcolepsy and you have a party!  I also wake up a bajillion times a night to pee.  It is unbelievable.  Some nights I really feel like I don't even fall asleep between pee breaks.  Of course I do, but it doesn't feel like it.  Oh, and the first person to tell me (on this blog or in real life) that this is just preparing me for life with a newborn is going to get punched.  In the face.  You've been warned.  Please refer to this post regarding your opinion.  In all seriousness, I know these symptoms are no big deal in the long run.  I have had a very easy, stress-free, and happy pregnancy thus far and I really pray that it stays that way.

This may be a weird thing to say, but it's my blog and if you don't like it, I don't actually care.  Anyway, I find it weird that I have such an attachment to this baby already.  Not the fact that I love the baby, I don't find that weird at all.  I love this baby so much I can hardly stand it, but I'm also very attached to him/her.  I get so excited thinking about giving birth and having my baby on the outside.  I wonder what s/he will look like, whose features his/her little face will favor, what color hair s/he'll have, if any.  But all of those thoughts culminate in a bit of sadness thinking that our days together will be over.  In my head the two of us are our own little team.  I like to refer to us as "us".  I always talk to Mike about both of us, how our day went, what we're up to, if one of us is causing the other exhaustion/heartburn/sickness.  I feel like this is normal for a point in pregnancy, but not necessarily now.  For example, we don't really interact.  I don't feel strong, definitive kicks and jabs from him/her.  I don't know when s/he's awake or sleeping.  I can't poke my belly and expect a response.  I don't know what foods stimulate him/her.  Nonetheless, even typing all of that makes me teary-eyed (damn hormones), because I am SO attached to him/her I WANT to know these things.  We're a team, remember?  I may have officially jumped off the pregnancy deep end...

15 Weeks!

How far along are you?  15 weeks!  5 more weeks until we're halfway :)
How big is baby?  S/he is about the size of a navel orange/apple this week, measuring about 4" and 2.5 ounces.
Maternity clothes?  I think the Bean is moving up into my abdomen because I can button my jeans again!
Weight -Loss or Gain?  +5 lbs, give or take
Stretch marks?  No
Sleep?  I am so exhausted, but waking up more and more to pee through the night.
Best moment this week:  Finally cleaning out the whole nursery!
Any Movement?  Still nothing...
Food Cravings?  Lots of Mexican food, honeycrisp apples, yogurt, pasta, anything spicy
Food Aversions?  Nothing I can think of, though I know there are some.
Belly Button in or out?  In
What do you miss:  Lately I've been dying for a long hard workout.  Something that will leave me sore for days.
What are you looking forward to:  I'm looking forward to feeling the baby more than anything.
What was the BEST part of this week?  Meeting up with friends for dinner on Monday.
What was the WORST part of this week?  The Phillies' loss on Sunday.

15 Weeks!

This is going to be a short post because I'm busy working on the nursery!  We finally have everything all cleaned out, a ceiling fan purchased, paint and supplies acquired, and we're ready to go.  This weekend we cleaned out the remainder of the items from the nursery, so I am spending time this week painting the trim and we will do the walls this weekend!  I cleaned everything from top to bottom before painting, so once we're done all we have to do is clean the carpet.  I am so excited :)  Anyway, if I spend too long posting here, I won't have time to do everything I need to, so keep watch for nursery progress soon!