20 Weeks

Well, it looks like I skipped a week here, but that's okay. There is not a ton going on! I am officially half way thru cooking my little one and personally that has freaked me out a little bit. I mean, we are going to be parents. SOON. And I am sure that the day will come where I am uncomfortable enought to really want my babes to come out of my belly, but for now, I am SUPER glad he/she is still in there.

How far along?: 20 Weeks, 4 days.

Total weight gain: Approximetly 16 lbs. Half way to my "pregnancy goal weight."  It's official. I am having a love affair with my food. And it needs to end. Or I am going to just have to face facts that I am going to gain 50lbs. Either way I'm gonna have to be okay with it.
How big is Baby?: 7 inches, 11 ounces. About the size of a banana.

Maternity clothes?: I can still fit into one or two pairs of my slightly larger pre-pregnancy jeans. But I can't sit down for long periods of time so I am using my belly band. And my pregnancy jeans are still too big, so I am using my belly band there too. I am trying to use pregnancy tops also because they fit better and are more flattering. In the last few weeks my belly has been growing SO much!

Stretch marks?: Not yet!

Sleep?: Mostly great! I feel like I am wanting to sleep a little less at night though. Instead of needing to sleep 9 hours a night, I am doing better on 8 or maybe a little less. Starting to get leg cramps though. Those are NO JOKE! I've only had about 2 so far, but every night before I go to bed it feels like I have a leg cramp coming on and want to stretch my calfs and rub my feet.

Movement?: YEP! I feel rolling around and kicks about every night. And I am pretty sure I have been feeling them since about 15 weeks or so. Every time I thought it was digestion? Most likely baby. Those were the coolest! Every now again I feel him/her roll around or something and I get a little sea sick. I've started talking to my belly and telling it to knock it off! =)
Food cravings?: Everything still tastes amazing. Great! Or not so great depending on how you look at it!
What I'm looking forward to: Only a few more days till we find out what we are having! And I am always looking forward to feeling more movement.
Milestone: Officially feeling movement and recognizing it.
How's Mom?: Feeling a little like a hippo and not really enjoying that I am just going to get bigger. I think that feeling is coming from growing out of my regular jeans and not quite fitting into my pregnancy jeans. I am thankful that there is room to grow into my jeans because I am pretty sure that my butt is spreading. And so are my legs. My growing belly does not bother me at all. I think it's pretty cute! Everything else that is growing however can just stop, thanks! The rest of my feeling? See previous post!

Lot's more to love here!
L

Pregnancy blues...

While I adore being pregnant, lately I find myself missing some things from before I was pregnant. At this very moment I am missing my old body, my old appetite, and wine (not that I even drank that much!). After I am done missing all those things, I am also freaking out about becoming a parent. You think that we would have thought about that BEFORE we got pregnant. Holy crap we are going to screw this child up. We have no idea what we are doing. And OMG we are going to have a very small being that is looking to us to provide for his/her every need. That is a huge responsibility! Every one says, we'll figure it out but of course I am hormonal and pregnant and freaking out. Ahhh gotta love those pregnancy hormones!!!!

That's all I've got right now!!!
L

We've been blessed

I follow many different milspouse (or gf) blogs, and one common factor thru all of these blogs is the struggles they face being a military couple. It may be deployments, temporary separation, odd schedules, low pay, hard work, crazy neighbors, or many other things. And I feel bad saying it, but so far we have been blessed. No deployments on the imediage horizen, our neighbors are nice (or just keep to themselves), J works a normal schedule, and life is pretty much as we expected.
I know that one day (probably sooner rather than later) we will "enjoy" the craziness of military life. And I hope when that day comes, I will embrace the change. I hope that I can look at the bright side of whatever trial we are going thru. So far, navy life is, for the most part amazing. I hope that in the midst of deployment I can feel the same way.
I have learned of so many strong and amazing military wives from blogging. They have been strong thru depoyments, rolled with the punches, and enjoyed their husbands more that most wives because of their crazy schedules. I am awed and inspired by they strength of a milspouse. When I go thru my first deployment, I hope I have half the strength I've seen in you ladies.
Thank you for being an inspiration!
L

Thankful

So many many things to be thankful for this year. And I know that I am a few days early for Thanksgiving, but since we will be traveling, I will post a little early this year.

I am so very thankful for my husband. He is the head of our household and I look up to him in so many ways. He is sweet and kind and doesn't put up with my crap. He is my rock and he has held my hand thru so many things. I could not imagine being married to anyone else. I am thankful for my mom who loves me even when I am not very lovable. She gives me advice and tells me when I am being spoiled. She takes care of me, even though I am married and living on my own. I am thankful for my in-laws. They have taken me in when J was away. They have taught me what a godly marriage looks like. They have loved me like their own and taught me so many things about my husband. I am thankful for J's auntie who has shown me how to be a working mom and how to be involved in my kids lives and till take time for myself. She has also inspired my love for jeans, purses, and shoes.  I am thankful for my sister in law who is a super woman. She is the mom that I strive to be. She is constantly busy and happy and playing with her kiddos. And she may not realize how awesome she is, but I look up to her so much. I am thankful for my family who always let's me know that they love me and never holds it against me that I stink at keeping in touch. I am thankful for the Navy who provided a way of life that my husband and I love. And while I know that it will not always be this easy, I am thankful that for right now it is. I am thankful for a little baby rolling around in my tummy. While I feel completely unprepared to take care of a child, I know that I will love him or her with all of my heart, and that has to count for something. Finally, I am thankful for a God who loves my unconditionally. A God who knows what is going on and knows the desires of my heart. I strive to be a woman of God and fall short daily, but to him, what matters is that I try.

Hopefully you have lots to be thankful for too. Enjoy your Turkey Day!
Love,
L

Babies Babies Babies

Is it just me or is there so much baby stuff out there? There are so many choices! Not only with things that you can buy for baby, but also the choices you make for baby. For me, being a first time mom with practically no experience with babies it's all kind of overwhelming. Breastfeed or bottle feed. Disposable or cloth diapers. Circumcise or not. Epidural or no epidural? Which is the right car seat, the right crib, the right onesie! Holy moly there are OPTIONS galore.

Personally, I find all of the options a little stressful. On top of all of the options, living in a small town makes it hard to even find some of the products that you are looking for. *MP I'll bet you understand that!* We hardly leave the island to drive to the "big city." So our options are Wal-Mart (which has a teeny tiny baby section) and the Nex.  While the Nex offers a lot different products, we can't register for anything there  because none of our family and all  but like 3 friends can't shop there. Thank you Jesus for the Internet. So while the selection is limited at home, the selection online to immense! There are like 5 bajillion car seats. How on earth are you supposed to pick just one? And which one is safest? Adjusts easiest? And of course looks cute too. Oh and isn't going to cost more than your entire "buying for baby" budget.

So what do I do? Uh, not buy anything. And register for things online because I can. And I can register for lots of things and just delete them because I've changed my mind. Online, you can only choose things  off of reviews. You can't touch, feel, and coo over baby items thru a computer screen.

Thank goodness that baby will be cooking for approximately 5 more months. Lots of time to decide which cloth diaper I want to purchase! (BumGenius or LuvYourBaby)

Love,
L

18 Weeks

How far along?: 18 Weeks 1 day!

Total weight gain: Uhhh....12 freaking pounds. Holy crap. Apparently I really have been stuffing my face with everything that sounded yummy! I know that I am supposed to gain weight, but from now on, I am going to try to combate my need to eat everything with eating some healthy alternatives and walking three times a week. I really do not want to gain 50 lbs!

How big is Baby?: Baby is the size of a soda can and weighs between 5-7oz. 

Maternity clothes?: Lovin' those maternity work pants! I have also been wearing some maternity tops. I still fit into a lot of my regular tops so I'm mixing and matching a lot. Still haven't gotten into pregnancy jeans. 

Stretch marks?:  Not yet!

Sleep?: Amazing. Sleep like a log! Starting to get more vivid dreams though. Has anyone seen that YouTube video of World's Biggest Zit? Well my husband made me watch it, and then I dreamed I had that zit on my face. I woke up in a PANIC! Gotta love the combo of pregnancy acne (awesome BTW) and YouTube videos. 

Movement?:  Maybe....I'm not sure. 

Food cravings?: Anything and everything. See above Weight gain. 

What I'm looking forward to: Dec 3 when we find out what we are having! Nov 18 for my birthday and my mom coming to visit! And Thanksgiving where J and I get to go home! Lots of exciting things these next few weeks. 

Milestone: Umm..... Started parenting classes! J and I liked it. We will be going every Saturday and we get "money" to go that we can use in the store on site and buy baby items!

How's Mom?: Good. Emotional. Had several mini freak outs today. 1st was the weight gain. I am not enjoying seeing those numbers on the scale. Then one of my dogs naughty on our walk today that for some reason made me in a bad mood. The pay periods at my new job SUCK and so when we get paid on the 15th, it will only be for 5 days. And that is going to make for a skimpy month. I am thanking God that we have a savings to dip into because we are going to need it this month. On the bright side, when I get paid on the 30th it will be for 3 weeks. That will be nice and we can put back the money we took from savings. Personal finance is much easier when you have lots of money to spread around!

Pregnancy Survey 17 Weeks!

November is going to be such a busy month!!! 

Besides having all of my families birthday's this month (holy shopping!), this year we have two really exciting weekends coming up. 1st is on my birthday (Nov. 18th!). My mom is coming to visit! And we are going to do a little shopping in Seattle and just plain have an amazing weekend. I can't wait. And then for Thanksgiving, J and I are going home! Lot's of home cooked amazing food and friends, and family. And I am hoping to have most of my Christmas gifts picked out by then so I can just bring them down and not ship everything. Fingers crossed!!!

Here goes the Survey:

How far along?: 17 Weeks 1 day!

Total weight gain: I don't really want to think about it! I will get the official word on the 10th when I go in for my next appointment. I am hoping for around 5 pounds total gained. We'll see...

How big is Baby?: The size of an sweet potato. 

Maternity clothes?: I am lovin' the maternity work pants! They are amazing! I am wearing a few maternity tops but still mostly regular tops. Especially for work I am still in regular tops but they are showing off the belly! Still haven't switched over to maternity jeans yet. 

Stretch marks?: No thank goodness! I thought I had some starting and FREAKED, but apparently I had just scratched my tummy or something because they were gone the next morning. 

Sleep?: Starting to dream more (which is weird!) and they aren't so nice. I have having more scary dreams. =(

Movement?: Not yet. But I am feeling myself digest which feels exactly like how the first movements are described. But since it's only after large meals I am 99% sure that it's digestion. 

Food cravings?: Still just food. I still love pickles, and peanut butter pickle sandwiches. And comfort food. And candy. Why can't I crave healthy food?

What I'm looking forward to: My next appointment! I am wondering if he will do another ultrasound...Probably not, but maybe!

Milestone: Bought my 1st baby purchase! a Moby (in orange!). Totally stoked about that! And I've signed up childbirth classes and parenting classes. Parenting classes start Saturday!

How's Mom?: Good this week. Work is going better. I'm not feeling any more ready to have this baby but I am coming to terms with what my timeline is can be totally different from another pregger lady's. And what I mean by this is that I am feeling okay that we have hardly any baby items or clothes, our baby is not pre-named, and while we may have a baby room it is in no way, shape, or form ready to house a baby. And this works for me! And for all you pre-prepared preggo's out there, more power to ya!