23 weeks!

no pic this week - if my mom sends me the one she took on thanksgiving i might add it.

here ya go! 

and i am slacking on this blog! not terribly, but still! i'm unemployed! what's my problem!? i think it's something about having so much free time that i've lost my need for structure. i like to recap the week before and "my week" starts on monday - so really i'm 24 weeks and a couple days but i'm recapping week 23. whatever. anyway...

what’s new with baby: well baby girl is getting big at 11 inches long and just over a pound! that's about half the length of a typical newborn right - she must but super skinny! baby girl has a well developed sense of movement and she can hear what i hear - it just sounds muffled to her! baby girl also has a name - which i love but for some reason i feel nervous announcing it. but seriously, no one really reads this! it's Olivia Kalyn! josh and i just fell in love with Olivia (i've always loved the name!) and Kalyn is a combination of our moms' middle names - Kay for my mom (and my sister too!) and Lynn for josh's mom! fun fun! 

what’s new with mom: well day 1 of week 23 i woke up and i could hardly walk because my lower back was hurting so bad! i bought a heating pad that day and pretty much stayed on it for hours, and i've been feeling better since. not great unfortunately - my belly is starting to "pop" and i think it's just my body figuring out how to adjust to the extra weight and gravitational pull. other than that i've been pretty good - just hungry and eating lots which was no problem since this week included thanksgiving! 

wardrobe: well i was able to get several maternity tops on black friday - i think i ended up with 4 long sleeve tops when all was said and done. unfortunately maternity clothes just don't go on sale much! i can still wear my regular tops but i think that will be changing soon. 

cravings: nothing new here, just lots of food and sweets! i'm thankful that i'm not repulsed by anything and that baby girl seems to be happy with just about anything i would already want - i probably just have treats more than i should! 

anything hard? well, i had a pretty great week with getting to go home and see family, but i was definitely tired! and riding in the car for 8 hours was not fun! my whole body got so achy! and, joy of joys, i had my first bout with swollen ankles after shopping on black friday with my mom! luckily they went down within a day or so, but it was definitely a little unsettling! 

best moment(s) of the week: well getting to see family was great! it was so great to relax and hang out with family that we hadn't seen in forever! and selfishly it was fun to hear everyone say that i looked cute with my little belly! here's a little four generation pic with my grandma, my mom, myself, and olivia! 

and of course shopping with my mom was great, exhausting but great! i was able to get some christmas shopping done, get some maternity tops, and get fabric for olivia's quilt!!! this was about an hour and a half process in joann's. armed with the pictures of the shirt i posted last week and the sections of the old quilt that i want to be hung in the nursery, and the black out curtains i bought for the nursery at target, we went to work! lots of picking and putting back and picking and putting back until we were both happy! days later, i still love the fabric! the bumper will be sage, the bed skirt plum (thanks mom!), the chair blue, the curtains purple, and the other fabrics in the quilt sections hung above the crib! i'm so excited! 

another great thing about this week was that fiona was FINALLY born! she came into the world tuesday night at 11:18 at an adorably plump 9 pounds and 7 ounces! i'm so excited for zach and bri and i'm so excited for fiona and olivia to be friends! me and fiona are already friends (she slept for hours when i held her when she was about 12 hours old and then again yesterday!) so i'm sure they'll hit it off great!

22 weeks!

what’s new with baby: our active little baby girl is now about 11 inches long and weighs almost a pound! and she is starting to look more like a baby with more distinct lips, eyelids, and eyebrows! baby girl may even have a name but we are not completely committed yet so i'm not going to share quite yet! 

what’s new with mom: well i have definitely continued with feeling hungry and tired. and i feel like i'm getting huge even though i know that's ridiculous. i'm getting to that point where i feel like my belly is kinda in the way when i bend over to get something. i can't imagine what it's going to be like to paint my toenails or shave my legs in a couple more months! 

i've continued the work on the baby registries, but i ended up ditching the target one because three was just too much! target has cute stuff but they also change their stock a lot and their return policy is pretty horrible, so walmart and babies r us it is! 

i've also been planning the nursery more but i've yet to actually do anything. we went to get a dresser on saturday at a scratch and dent sale in highpoint that we saw on craigslist, but it turned out to be a scam or something because we did eventually find the warehouse but there was not a soul in site! bummer! we're still looking and we might also see if there's any extra dressers lying around the in-laws when we go home for thanksgiving this week. they seem to have furniture to spare somehow! (we have several pieces of theirs now!) and we're ordering the crib this weekend too - it might go on sale around black friday!? anyhow, i've been struggling to plan a nursery that's fun and feminine without being girly. i'm just not a huge pink and purple person. of course my daughter might LOVE pink and purple in the future and that will be fine, but when i'm the one planning the room (and we live in an apartment so by the time she starts to care about her room we'll be moving out) i'm going to do it the way i want. here's a bit of the inspiration - 

ignore the big shadow on the right

it's part of a quilt top that has been in my family forever - a neighbor made it for my grandma with old fabric and clothing that my family had and it was never finished - and then my mom had it and she never finished it either! well it's finally going to find some new life in the nursery! 

i also love love love this shirt that i saw on pinterest - so i'm going to draw a lot of the color inspiration from it! i think a chevron quilt is in the near future! i'm not a big print person but i'm loving the combo of solids in this! 

wardrobe: i continue to be able to wear many of the shirts i've had which is good because i only have a couple maternity tops right now. i did buy a really cute one at kohls the other day that i'm saving for thanksgiving! i'm hoping some maternity tops will be on sale this weekend on black friday! 

cravings: well i've continued to want sweets but i've also started wanting MILK! i'm not a milk person but i actually had to stop at the grocery the other day just to get milk because we had run out. i still don't want it plain but i am eating cheerios more and fixing myself chocolate milk occasionally! my sister will be so proud! 

anything hard? the job hunt has certainly continued to be my biggest stressor. i had another interview but i wasn't too excited about the job for several reasons and then they haven't called either so who knows!? at this point i'm just ready to go home for thanksgiving and visit with family! 

best moment(s) of the week: well baby girl has been kicking up a storm and i love it! i'm certain that milo felt her move the other day when he was resting his head on my belly. his eyes got really big and he looked pretty concerned but he didn't get up. it was so cute! poor josh has been quite jealous though! 

21 weeks!

what’s new with baby: well baby girl is growing and she is hungry! baby girl is also starting to stretch and kick much more, which this momma is loving! baby girl also weighs about 3/4 of a pound and is about 10 1/2 inches long! 

what’s new with mom: well i'm certainly hungry! i feel like i can't get full and i'm thirsty all the time! i've also been really tired lately and my lower back is hurting a lot, but it's all worth it for my baby girl! i've become a little obsessed with researching all things baby this week, and i've started three registries online - still needing to get to the stores and pick out stuff in person. i'm a big review reader so online works well, and i can look at and compare several blog suggestions and my Baby Bargains book without getting stressed out and overwhelmed in a store. i'll probably try to get into the stores this week though because i'd like to have this done before christmas shopping mania begins. 

wardrobe: nothing too new here. still working the maternity pants and regular tops (but they are certainly quite snug!). 

cravings: every time i get to this part i think, "why did i put 'cravings'? my cravings are embarrassing!" well, baby girl likes chocolate! and carbs! of course i do eat regular food and she's not that picky really, but when i really want something it's usually sweet! 

anything hard? well the job hunt is continuing and i'm feeling discouraged. i had an interview on friday that went well, but it's doing in-home therapy which i'm really not interested in doing. i'm concerned about the crazy hours with having a new baby, and i'm also concerned that there's not much else out there! 

this isn't really hard but it was humorous... the other day i felt like i could seriously feel my stomach stretching and i was SO cranky! josh was cracking up at me because i was just annoyed with him over the stupidest things, and i was trying to explain to him that i seriously felt like i was about to explode! it was crazy! i also almost passed out on the same day - i got super hot and dizzy while i was making dinner and i had to go lay down with the fan on me to stop myself from passing out. i don't know what was going on but friday was rough! 

best moment(s) of the week: this week hasn't been too exciting really. picking out things for our baby has been fun, and i LOVE feeling her move around more and more! i think she's become a night owl! my dear friend emily sent a little love from kentucky - she sent baby girl a couple little outfits! our daughter has some practical clothing! thanks emily! that package made me super happy! i'm so thankful for our friendship! 

20 weeks! - 4 days late!

so i totally failed on the picture this week. normally i try to take it before we leave for church, but this week we were running late. i'll just take it when i get home, i thought. well after church i went shopping with bri (didn't get anything besides shaving cream for josh - just went for support), and then we ended up hanging out at their house until late, so no pic. and then monday i just looked like crap - no need to get dressed up and fix your hair when you got laid off (more about that later) so the picture just never happened. but i did get great pics at our reveal party tuesday night thanks to our friend wayne! thanks wayne! you can check out more of wayne's work here. 

what’s new with baby: well baby p is a GIRL for one thing! so exciting! 

see!

baby girl weighed 10 ounces at our ultrasound on tuesday! and the tech said that she would be doubling her weight within the next couple weeks! (no wonder i'm so hungry!) baby girl is also about the length of a banana now. everything looked great development wise - everything was measuring good and we got to see her little heart beating 155 beats per minute! even though the anticipation to find out what she was was killing me, it was SO WONDERFUL to see our healthy little baby there on the screen, squirming around and doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing. 

i'm already in love with her little profile!

what’s new with mom: well besides hungry, i've been feeling good. i did get laid off from my job the day after we had our ultrasound and found out baby girl is a girl, so week 20 was definitely an emotional roller coaster! total elation to total shock and disappointment in a matter of 18 hours! but i've been trying to stay positive and just focus on the fact that i have a healthy baby girl to love and plan for. speaking of planning, i went into nursery planning mode almost immediately and i'm so excited about some of the ideas i have floating around in my head! right now they are still just ideas as the only thing we have in the nursery is still the chair and a futon, but still. we were going to order a crib a couple weeks ago, but at this point i think i'll just wait until black friday and see if i can get a deal! (losing your job also dampens the whole spending-lots-of-money-on-the-nursery thing!) 

wardrobe: nothing new to report here, still wearing my maternity pants and regular tops. of course my tops are getting snug and i love the couple maternity ones i have, but i'm holding off to buy more until they're more necessary (or marked down on black friday, please target). and briana is about to POP so she'll gradually be passing her maternity clothes to me as she's done with them because she's awesome like that! :) 

cravings: food in general, i'd say. still no meat or burgers, baby girl's not into that. :) although that would probably be better than wanting than the carbs and sweets i do want (besides the whole pescatarian thing!). 

anything hard? besides staying full, nothing baby related. i'm so excited to be expecting a healthy baby girl! the whole job thing really stinks, and i may have thrown a little tantrum the other day about having to job hunt when i just went through the whole process back in june. just finding jobs that sound appealing and that i'm qualified for... then those applications are so tedious and annoying... and then not hearing back from most people... ugh. but fortunately i do have an interview tomorrow! i'm nervous about the whole interviewing while pregnant thing. i think my plan is to try to not look pregnant. i definitely am pregnant and proud of it, but the average stranger isn't saying anything to me and they're not allowed to ask in an interview. we'll see how it goes! 

best moment(s) of the week: well this is easy! getting to see our healthy baby and finding out that we weren't having a hermaphrodite was awesome! (i seriously had a long and involved dream the night before the appointment that we were having a hermaphrodite! and for whatever reason we still decided to do the balloon reveal, i guess because it was already planned, so we opened the box in front of all our friends and the balloons were yellow and we just stood there crying. everyone was in shock and we had to explain that our baby was a hermaphrodite but we were going to love it anyway. ugh.) anyway, the ultrasound and news of a healthy boy OR girl was awesome! and then of course the reveal party was GREAT! it was so exciting to find out and celebrate with all of our friends here locally. (my parents got to watch on skype!) and the pictures wayne took were so great i don't think people who weren't there in person really felt like they missed much! here are a few of my favorites...

so excited!!!

the initial reaction! 

yay! 

realizing it's PINK!

showing off the ultrasound pics!