Currently...

1. At our newborn care class.  I think I know how to hold this baby now  2. Bradley's steam punk accessory explosion  3. Bradley has the hang of it too  4. Making burp cloths   5. First snow!  6. I got my official mail in ballot. Voting is exciting!   7. Chenille explosion   8. Mitt Romney killing a small forrest in my mailbox   9. I love fall.

Loving: The weather! Who doesn't love fall? This summer was so hot and miserable that I will gladly take 60 and 70 degree weather.  I still have my own personal furnace going on so I haven't really pulled out too many socks or cozy blankets but it has been nice to pull out all my cardigans.

Reading: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  I picked up this book this summer but just never got to reading it.  It is a big book at over 800 pages but I think it is really good historical story of the building of a cathedral in the 12th century and the character development is really well done.  I dig it.

Watching: Fall shows are finally here! I just finished watching the season finale of Project Runway today (not sure how I feel about the outcome) and I am excited for the next all stars season.  I have also been watching Boardwalk Empire, Survivor, New Girl, and Bradley makes me watch the Walking Dead every week.

Thinking About: Christmas. Ya I said it.  I am excited and terrified of it this year.  I just don't know what it is going to look like with a tiny baby and I am wondering how in the world we are going to pull off Christmas shopping.  I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be getting gift cards or gifts ordered directly from Amazon.  It is also blowing my mind that I am going to have a child to christmas shop for! It is a weird thought.  Not that she is even going to know what is going on but it is just so unfathomable that I am going to have a baby to enjoy the holidays with!

Anticipating: This is a really easy answer.  I'm just going to do with the birth of my first baby.  This might sound terrible but I have no birth plan.  I have an idea of my preferences like I know I want my own pillow and music but that is about it.  Otherwise epidural...no epidural...c-section...I don't know.  I am just going to go with the flow at the time.  Our good friend is going to be our doula so I figure she will be able to help when the time comes.

Listening: I know I have said this before but I will get a song or two stuck in my head and then listen to it till it is dead in the ground.  Last week it was Sufjan Steven's Casimir Pulaski Day and the past few days I have been listening to Peter Bjorn and John's Tomorrow Has to Wait

Working On: This is just downright sad to admit but I am in between projects right now. I just finished up making a few more burp cloths for little lady.  Sadly I just don't have a whole lot of energy right now to do a lot.  Tomorrow we are picking up 30lbs of apples for a school fundraiser.  I have a lot of juicing ahead of me since I am going to turn the majority of it into hard cider.  Nothing more classy than a 9 month pregnant lady making hooch!

Wishing: I didn't live in a political swing state right now. The political adds on TV and mail have become really bad.  I dread going to the mailbox to see how many pieces of paper either candidate has decided to shove in my mailbox to see if it will change my mind about them.  Some are sooo incredibly ridiculous too.  My favorite so far was yesterday we got an anti Obama flyer with a picture of Obama next to the soviet hammer and sickle.  Are people really influenced by this stuff?

Pregnancy: Week 37

Things seem to be progressing this week.  I have had a lot of "warm up" contractions and cramping going on.  So I guess it didn't surprise me yesterday when the doctor said that I was 1 cm dilated and 50  effaced. Little lady is currently head down and will most likely stay there.  I can't imagine she would turn since there is hardly any room left.  I can feel a lot more of her smaller movements now.  She is still  a rather mellow baby but she dislikes it when I rest my right arm on my belly and will immediate kick it off.  She also seems to be using my bladder as her personal punching bag.  It resulted in me peeing my pants one day...yes I just said that.  At least I was at home and thought it was funny. I had a feeling that was going to happen before the end of this pregnancy.  She also loves the sound of her dad's voice and usually wakes up or starts moving when he talks to her.
My body has pretty much had it with being pregnant.  I am so exhausted anymore.  I plan 1 to 2 things to do a day, like run an errand and clean the kitchen, and I am wiped out.  I can only imagine what a mess I would be if I was still working.  My new favorite symptoms are what I call "lightening crotch" where it feels like a quick and intense pain down yonder.  I also have some awesome swelling going on in my arms.  Sleeping is becoming impossible due to my arms falling asleep no matter what position I am in. They hurt during the day too but get better as the day goes on. My right hand is rather useless with fine details. This symptom has me a little freaked out but apparently it is normal for you body to start retaining fluid for the birthing process.  The doctor said your body will retain up to a liter of fluid in your extremities. A litter! I have a feeling that once I give birth it is going to be the fastest amount of weight I have ever lost between the baby and the excess fluid.
So far I have gained 50 lbs...ya.  Nothing I can do about it now. I haven't been perfect in my eating but I also haven't been terrible.  However the thought of getting back to exercising and not having to get up at 11pm for a snack has me excited.  I am thinking that I am going to have about 70 lbs to loose after this pregnancy since I would like to get down about 20 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. Hopefully breastfeeding will help with this.

My Mom with Me

When I posted the last pregnancy picture of myself on Facebook people started freaking out.  I got numerous calls and emails from people asking if I was okay.  People were having a hard time with how big I am. In my online absence I must have grown out of the "cute bump" stage and progressed into the "obscenely pregnant" stage. My mom, who lives 3 houses down from me, keeps reminding me that I am carrying exactly like I did so I made a point of digging out the picture (and posting it on Facebook) of her when she was 9 months pregnant with me.  It is uncanny to me how similar we are carrying.  You just have to keep in mind that my mom is 6 inches shorter than me at 4'10". It is a miracle I got to 5'4" since I am the tallest person on my mom's side of the family. No joke. 
I keep going back to this picture and really enjoying how happy and excited she looks. You can just see it in her face. When I asked her about it she said she was just excited to have me out of her but I know there is more to it than that. It has been really fun to watch her get excited about having a granddaughter.  I think she is just as excited this time as she was with me (maybe more).   It makes me excited for little lady to make her debut and it really makes me excited for the relationship she is going to have with her grandma.

My mom 9 months pregnant in February 1983

 

 Flat feet at birth.  It was meant to be.

 

Me at 6 weeks old with my Ronald McDonald love child red hair. 

Little lady might start life as a red head.

Chill Out Heart

Well...I am home and have been for a while.

Working for 5 weeks on my feet for 9+ hours a day I developed a heart conditional call Tachycardia. Basically at night when I was laying down in bed my heart would start pounding really hard and I would get short of breath. There was a few times where my chest was hurting along with it and I thought I was going to pass out. The doctor said enough was enough. I either had to stop working or go on medication. So I stopped working. It has been interesting. You would think coming from someone who has the summers off I would be perfectly used to it but I honestly cried when he told me I had to stop working. I miss my kids. I had a really good group of advanced art students and photography students and I was building in a new website component to my photography curriculum that I was really excited about. Oh well. Such is life. It really was for the best. I am really so incredibly exhausted anymore. I struggle just to make it up the stairs to sew or get on my computer to work on graduate school. Hence the total abandonment of updates...sorry. I can do about 1 to 2 projects in the morning and then I am wiped out. If I do anymore my heart starts freaking out at night. This past week the little lady dropped so just even getting around has become challenging. My hips and crotch literally feel like they could crack in half at any point. The doctor has also had me coming off some of my medication just to be sure that little lady doesn't have any withdrawal symptoms. It has honestly just added a new level of exhaustion and emotional spaz outs to the mix. Everyone said the last few weeks of pregnancy was the hardest. I see why now. Everything is ready and set up. Now we are just playing the waiting game.

Here is your awesome documentation of how gigantor I have become. The doctor is predicting an 8
to 8.5 lbs baby. It would make sense since I was a 9 lbs baby and Bradley was an 8.5lbs baby.  I am assuming that we just make big babies!

 

Are you there, Sara? It is me, your blog.

Yes I am here. Just giantly pregnant and exhausted. I look so happy here but my days mostly consist of looking happy yet feeling miserable and trying not to whine. 

But watch out! As of tomorrow I am officially not allowed to work anymore.

More to come... really. I promise. 

Currently...

Olympia trying to be sneaky and steal the thread from my sewing machine.

Also check out that adorable picture of my mom when she was 5.

I love blog posts that give you a little insight as to what the blogger is currently thinking about, into, planning for, etc. It makes the writer feel a little more maybe just human. However, whenever I see this blog post I want to do it but feel like I am ripping the original author off. Silly. So I am just going to go for it.



Loving: Feeling little lady move around a lot more. Pregnancy is a weird journey and most of the time I feel like my body is a giant science experiment. One of the pay offs is feeling her move inside of me. For the longest time I kept wondering if I was really pregnant. All I could see was this belly growing in front of me. I longed to feel her moving around in there. It is so exciting to feel her little kids, flips, and minor adjustments.

Reading: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Every summer I try to pick one classic novel to read along with the all the other books I check out from work before summer break. The Fountainhead was written in the 1920s but I am surprised at how relevant it still seems today. The characters are really interesting to me and I find that this book isn't at all predictable It is taking me a lot longer than normal to read. It reminds me of older movies sometimes where the dialog is stretched out longer than it needs to be. The copy I have is over 800 pages long and it has traveled to San Diego and is about to go camping for 5 days.

Watching: I started out really strong watching the Olympics but I seem to have dropped off recently. I can only take so much of beach volleyball and water polo just makes me want to go swimming. I think I was only really interested in the gymnastics so now that is over I find my attention waning. I have also been watching the new seasons of True Blood and Breaking Bad. I am super disappointed with True Blood this season. It has the weirdest timing. Luckily Alexander Skarsgaard's face is enough to keep me watching.

Thinking about: Going back to work and graduate school. My first day back to work is next week. Yikes! We usually have a few days to get all our ducks in a row and then school starts on Monday the 20th. I am having more anxiety about it this than I normally do. It is just cloudy in my head how it is all going to come together, how I am going to fit in 1, possibly 2, classes for graduate school, setting up lesson plans for a long term sub, being on my feet for full days, dealing with high school kids while pregnant and tired. I will figure it out but it is just weighing on me heavier than normal.

Anticipating: The yearly end of the summer camping trip that my friends and I go on every year to Lake McConaughy in Nebraska. I know...Nebraska. Somehow they ended up with an awesome lake with white sand beaches. We have done this trip for 10 years now. It is interesting to see how it has changed. The first year there was 7 of us, minimal camping supplies, and a lot of shenanigans. The largest group we ever had was over 20 people. That was the year it rained the whole time and we were all miserable! Now when we go we have an awesome system of setting up camp. We always have a kitchen area complete with a dish washing area, pop up tents in case of rain, tons of water toys, a bathroom tent and all kind of cute little kids running around. This year I am going by myself since Bradley is driving to Illinois for a wedding reception. I bought a bunch tarps and clothing line to set up a changing area so I don't have to crawl around in my tent more than I have too.

Listening: Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures. Boy was she was a train wreck but her music was so good. This album is a bunch of songs that she recorded and never released. It has some great covers of older songs. My favorite is the 1963 cover of "Our Day Will Come" originally by Ruby and the Romantics. It also has some different versions previously released songs.

Working on: I have been sewing a lot this past week.  My mom has been helping me sew some maternity clothing for when I go back to work. I have been making tops and she has been making some pants and a dress.  I have been trying to find clothing that doesn't look like a stole a tent from the local circus and cut some arm holes in it.

Wishing: The nursery would magically finish itself. I don't think that is going to happen.  We still need to put up some shelving in the closet and put up blinds. We have stopped buying stuff for the baby till my baby showers happen next month and we see what we have left to get.

Asking for Help

Bradley excited for his growing little girl and me trying not to look uncomforable this past weekend at a BBQ.

Yesterday I was talking to one of my best friends on the phone about my baby shower. My 3 best friends are graciously hosting one for me in the middle of next month and the subject has come up if we should have it at my house or not. Now I am a little neurotic when it comes to my house. I blame my parents. They are the same way and growing up in a house where everything is neatly organized, perfectly clean, and de-cluttered rubbed off more than I would like to admit. However being pregnant has challenged my ability to keep up with this. I get tired easily and my feet hurt and swell from mid-day till I go to bed. When my friend offered to come over and clean my house for the baby shower it still didn't make me want to have it here. Not because I think it wouldn't be up to my standards but more of the fact that I would feel awful asking someone to come clean my house. Even though it is one of my best friends for the past 12 years and I would gladly do the same thing for her. This same issue came up multiple times in the past few weeks. I am to the point where there are a lot of things I can't do any more so I have to ask for help. It pains me to ask for things and I get an overwhelming sense of guilt. I really am hyper aware of what I think is "imposing" on people and their comfort level. If I can avoid it I will. It also frustrates me. I have always been so independent. My mom likes to remind me that I taught myself how to walk and how to ride a bike. It seems to have started at an early age and has been prevalent during my whole life. I like to know that I can do things on my own. Pregnancy is challenging this. It is hard for me to tell myself things like "sit down" "don't lift that" "you are going to have to wait till Bradley comes home to get that done". It is even harder to ask people to do it for me. This is going to have to change and I think there are a few things that I need to constantly remind myself

• My friends and family want to do these things for me. I would do the same for them.
• It is in the best interest of little lady for me not to overdo it. I a classic over doer. I will keep going till I crash and I have had to learn in the past that physically this is bad for my body.
• This is only temporary.

Hopefully this will work for the next 3 months. If not I'll see you in Neurotic Sara Town.

Pregnancy Week 24 and Week 25

It's the end of July! Really! The end of July! Holy crap.  What happened? Yesterday as I was riding back from Denver with my parents I was lamenting the end of my summer. There is only 2 1/2 weeks left till I have to go back to work.  So sad! That was quick. 

I guess I should pick up with saying I am officially uncomfortable 80% of the day. It is just really hard to get this body into a comfortable position. I usually end up in some sort of half sitting half reclining pose. I am still at 3 gigantic pillows when I sleep but my habit of sleeping on my back (which is a pregnancy no no) seems to be subconsciously engrained and I will wake up on my back multiple times a night and have to flip over to my side. I am also feeling gigantor. I had my first official melt down over how big I have gotten last Thursday. I think it was a combination of things. We had gone to the doctor and that morning and after I stepped on the scale I realized that at 25 weeks of being pregnant I have gained 28 lbs. Yup and holy sh*t. The doctor didn't mention it but it was a little terrifying for me who is someone that has constantly had to watch my weight since a young age. I will have to say that my insane appetite has calmed down a little and I have been able to go to bed without eating another plate of whatever we had for dinner. That same night I put a pair of pajama pants on that were too big to start with and literally lost it when I sat down and the fabric was tight on my thighs. It is not like my thighs are pregnant, people! Oh well, I will get over it. I just need to remember that I am also swelling (sexy, no?) and there is a human inside of me that requires more blood and fluid. On the more positive side I have been feeling little lady move around a lot more. Sometimes I can even poke my belly and she will kick/punch back. That is one of the most gratifying parts of being pregnant. Some days she is more active than others and of course that freaks me out. I always thought being pregnant would be the easy part but I find myself worrying at times that something bad is going to happen to her while she is incubating. I suppose I should just get used to this. I can't imagine it gets a whole lot easier once they come out. I just need to keep remembering that the universe won't give me anything more than I can handle good or bad.

Mid Trip Check In

Bradley and I have been in San Diego since last Thursday partly for his work and partly to relax.  All I can say is I am loving it.  While he was at Comic Con I spent two whole days hanging out by myself.  It was exactly what I needed.  On Friday I strolled around downtown San Diego shopping, people watching, enjoying the harbor, and ultimately after I full day on my feet I found a pedicure and a manicure.  Saturday I dropped Bradley off and went directly to Coronado beach where I spent 3 glorious hours swimming and reading.  We were fortunate to have some of our close friends from home also visiting San Diego right now so last night was spent on the beach with them. It was so fun to hang out in a different environment.  It felt just like we were at home but just next to the ocean. Today we are going to check out some tide pools and then spend some time in downtown San Diego.  We were avoiding the Gaslamp District as much as possible during Comic Con.  We also have a quick trip up to L.A. to visit Bradley's good friend and then we return on Thursday.

Goodbye Hello

Goodbye beautiful vintage family heirloom wedding ring and hello $15 cheap ass Target ring! Oh the joys of pregnancy. My wedding ring was starting to strangle my poor finger. My feet are swelling worse than my hands but thank god for sandals.

Pregnancy Week 21 and 22

I have seriously been slacking on the pregnancy updates. I just finished my month long stretch of summer graduate classes and I would like to say my posting will go up but we are leaving for San Diego this week so Bradley can venture into the world of geekdom at Comic Con. Oh well.



So yesterday marked week 23 (Almost 6 months along) and this second trimester is just flying! In the past few weeks I think it is okay to officially say "I done popped". If you couldn't tell that I was pregnant before now you can and I have started to get comments from strangers asking me about my pregnancy and weird stares at my belly. I feel incredibly lucky at how smoothly everything is going (knock on wood). My only real symptoms are I get tired really easily, my feet hurt, strange dreams, I can't sit or stand for long periods of time, and my hands and feet are starting to swell. All totally normal things which I am perfectly happy to deal with. The only symptom I am struggling with is this emotional rollercoaster I am on. One moment I am fine and the next I am crying. I have had a few people tell me that their emotions were worse when they were pregnant with girls. I am just going to blame the extra estrogen in my system. Like I have said before my husband is awesome at dealing with me and my hormones. It is nice to have someone so supportive and okay with my craziness.

This past week I have really started to feel this little lady moving around a lot more. Before I was just getting random quick jabs and punches that truthfully hurt. They had no rhyme or reason to their consistency and I would go for days without feeling anything. Now I can feel her moving around daily and it is a different sensation that is hard to describe. It kind of feels like she is just floating around in there and bumping into things. She is generally quiet in the morning and is especially active after lunch and dinner and right before I go to bed and into the night....she already seems to have her father's time schedule. Bradley got to feel her for the first time from the outside.  It was exciting to see his face light up.



Today we have plans to go to Babies R Us to start a registry.  It's intimidating especially since we have not done this before.  I know the basics of what we are going to need to but I am sure there is going to be something that would make our life easier once little lady comes but have no clue as to what it is. The overplanner in me is sure to have a silent meltdown.

Bad News Good News

Thing have just kind of exploded around here. Not literally...but you know.

Lets start with the bad news and work our way to good news which always involves the little nugget.

Bad News:  Our poor town is in the midst of a really serious fire.  Fort Collins sits right up against the mountains in Northern Colorado and a lot of our friends live in the foothills and in the mountains. It has been burning for over a week now and almost 200 structures (homes included) have burned.  It has kept a lot of us on edge and it has filled the town with smoke.  Being pregnant and asthmatic has pretty much kept me confined to the house which just sucks.  It is just sad since it has taken so many people's homes and possessions not to mention it has devestated the landscape.  Bradley brought up a good point when he said that our little nuggett won't know what that area looks before the fire. I am sure it will just look like the surface of the moon for awhile.  A lot of my students also live in this area so I am sure this is something that our community will be dealing with for a long time.

The fire actually hopped the mountain for a few days so you could see actual fire from town

So so news: I am in the middle of my summer graduate classes which I have to make about a 45 minute drive South East of town so it has been nice to get out of the smoke. 

Good news: We had our ultrasound last week to check up on the babe.  Babe is sooo incredibly healthy and at that point was weighing 10 ounces. The most exciting part was finding out if the babe was a boy or a girl.We had a party last weekend to announce to everyone and all you people that guessed boy (myself included) we were....

wrong!

 Nugget is a girl! I am so over the moon!

Little Nugget

I think I am in love

Pregnancy Week 17 and 18

Going au natural wild hair and all for week 18

"Am I still pregnant?"...This thought has seriously crossed my mind multiple times the last two weeks.  I feel really good and with the exception of this growing belly and insane appetite I feel relatively normal. I have to look back at the first trimester and remember all those symptoms I was having. This whole processes is just flying by so fast it is scary. Next Monday we have our one and only ultrasound my insurance allows.   When I asked why we only get one ultrasound I was told that too many women abuse ultrasounds and will make up any excuse to get one.  Well, duh! Of course we want to see that little babe in there. I am so anxious to find out whether it is a boy or a girl.  Both my mom and I have been having dreams of a little girl.  But when I am awake I am sure it is a little boy.  Bradley thinks it is a boy too.  Maybe there is two in there:)

Last week I finished up my 6th year of teaching which is crazy because I remember so clearly being a newbie my 1st year of teaching. This week I have been doing random projects around our house, painting interior doors, and just hanging out.  Next week I start a month of graduate classes.  Because of that we really haven't made too many summer plans.  We have a trip planned in July for San Diego but that is still somewhat up in the air. I really just want to hang out, get the baby room together, and do projects around the house.  I am sure this will be one of the last quiet summers we have in a long time and I get excited when I think of summers hanging out with the babe.

    

Team Pink or Blue?

As this pregnancy is trucking along the same questions keep popping up from people. When are you due? How are you feeling? What are you craving? Do you have any names picked out and my favorite...Do you want a boy or a girl? For the longest time I just assumed that our first born would be a boy. I know that makes no sense because how can you "assume" something like that? It makes me giddy on the inside thinking of a little boy exploring, playing in the dirt, tiny legos and army men everywhere. But as the possibility of a girl has sunk into my head I can't help but be excited for tea parties, dress up, and adorable little girl clothing. Having a boy does intimidate me a little mostly because I don't have much experience with little boys. I have no idea how you teach a little boy to pee standing up or what do you say to them when they turned the 100 millionth item they can find into a gun? I am really feminine so having a girl would be more natural but what scares me about raising a girl is making sure she has confidence and self-esteem as she grows older especially in today's society.

Ultimately...I don't really care. I am happy either way. As long as it is not a dinosaur we are good.

But a little guessing along the way is just fun. I put a poll up on the top left corner for you to give your two cents! We go in for our one and only ultrasound on June 11th to find out. My mom and mother in law are joining us and during the ultrasound we are going to ask the tech to circle boy or girl on a card and give it to our moms. That following weekend we are going to have a gender reveal party and the moms are supposed to coordinate a cake that is pink or blue on the inside. I have a feeling that week might be one of the longest weeks of my life but finding out with all of our close friends and family that will have an influence one way or another on this little babe's life outweighs the waiting.

Pregnancy Weeks 13-16

F ya second trimester! I love you! Things have been going really well in the land of pregnancy.  I feel like I have entered that happy time some pregnant women love.  For one I am actually looking pregnant.  I feel like people are no longer looking at me and asking themselves "Is she fat or is she pregnant?".  Secondly, I feel really good with the exception of a few aches and pains from my expanding belly and hips. The biggest symptom I am having in hunger! I am always hungry. It has been interesting to say the least.  I have been counting calories and watching what I put in my mouth since I was 16 so letting go of that is actually liberating.  I have been very careful to make sure it is not all the cookies and brownies that I have been craving.  I try to save those for the end of the day as a treat to myself and the babe.  The strangest craving for me has been meat. Before I was pregnant I was only eating chicken and fish a few times a week.  Now I want red meat every day.  I am just going with it. To me it just means my body needs protein.  I'll take the red meat back out when I am not pregnant.  Over the past week I have been feeling the babe move.  It is a strange feeling and I was skeptical at first but really I don't know what else it could be.  It almost feels like flutters or something poking at your insides.  I am excited for Bradley to start feeling the baby kick from the outside.  He has been the best partner in this I could have asked for.  He talks to my belly, makes me snacks, and is so forgiving of my up and down moods.  He also likes to tell everyone that I am pregnant. It is so fun to see him so excited. I am still thinking girl but now I am only 80% sure. There is just this inkling in the back that it is a boy.  We find out next month so as long as it is not a dinosaur we are good.

Pregnancy Weeks 8-12

So here is the second part of my 1st trimester weekly updates.  From now on I will just go to updating weekly on this good stuff! Just a fair warning there are some gross bodily functions in here. I am quickly learning that when you are pregnant all modesty is out the window. We started taking belly pics around week 10 and have been trying to take them on Saturdays to stay consistent.

Week 8
Time is flying! This week was much better than last! I actually feel healthier and by the end of the week some of the morning sickness is fading and my energy levels are returning. I am actually starting to "look" pregnant. There is no more sucking in my stomach and hiding my growing waste line. We have decided to announce it to everyone at 10 weeks. It is becoming increasingly harder to hide it. I have had to be reclusive which hasn't been too hard since I generally haven't felt good but I am starting to feel guilty about it. I want to see my friends and I want them to know. We had our 8 week appointment with our OB, Dr. Stern, this week. They tried to look for the heart beat with the Doppler thingy but they couldn't hear it yet. I was super excited to hear it but it didn't worry me that they couldn't find it. It’s not like I am 90lbs here people.

Week 9 and 10
These two weeks have just kind of mushed themselves together. Thankfully a lot of the gross 1st trimester symptoms are going away. My pooping is back to normal (hallelujah!) the morning sickness is much less although it still likes to pop up from time to time, and my energy levels are slowly getting back to normal. At the start of week 10 we announced to everyone that we were pregnant. It was so nice to finally tell everyone instead of trying to hide it. Now I have a reason to not come to your stupid drunken event. Sorry friends. It’s just not fun for me when I can't participate. Towards the middle of week 10 my full on baby bump arrived. I have a full on rounded belly. It’s not big but it is there. I have noticed people staring at my belly and then staring at me. Some rando even approached me and asked me if I was expecting. Good thing I was or I might have punched her. I have been dreaming of Blue Jays a lot. Is it a sign? I don't know. This week I am feeling boy. At the end of week 10 we went back to the doctor to try and here the heartbeat again. No luck. The nurse said my uterus was right under my pubic bone and about to move above it. The placenta was also in the way but luckily they picked up the placenta pumping blood so I can only assume all is well. I can't let myself freak out or I will. I am good at that. We have another appointment at the end of week 11 to try again. If they can't find it I will get an ultra sound (I am secretly wishing to a healthy baby and an ultra sound). We decided not to do any 1st trimester screening. We figure if the baby has a disability so what? It’s not going to cause us to terminate the pregnancy. This baby could be missing an arm and that just means it gets a cool robotic laser arm in my mind.

Week 11
Spring is definitely here! The lilacs starting blooming this week which always make me feel happy and hopeful. This week started off a little rocky with some pressure and aching in my pelvic area (sorry…TMI) which resulted in a trip to the OB’s and a bladder infection.  Now that we have for the most part let the cat out of the bag week 11 was filled with telling more people and seeing their happy faces. The best part about this week was it was topped off by hearing baby's heart beat for the first time at 178 bpm. I am starting to feel almost back to normal but I still get a little barfy in the mornings but it goes away quickly. I have been craving oreos and ice cream all week but I have been trying to hold off as long as a can. Baby actually looks like a human and not a reptile and it is crazy to think there is a little guy or gal floating around in there.

Week 12
This this took fooorevvvver! The kids  are getting really antsy at school and this week I broke up a water fight and a clay fight. Such fun (insert sarcastic voice). According to some pregnancy websites I am in the last week of the 1st trimester and according to one of my books I am in the 1st week of my 2nd trimester. I am going to ride it out and say this is the last of my 1st trimester. I am pretty much back to my normal self I just get tired really easy. I went at with my good girlfriends at the beginning of this week and it was interesting to not enjoy an adult beverage while everyone else is. I wasn't sure if it was going to be the same but I still found myself laughing hysterically and my cheeks hurt the next day. It makes me grateful to have such good friends. We got to hear Baby's heartbeat again at the end of the week. It put a big ‘ol warm and fuzzy smile on my face. This week my appetite has slowed down and I have had some stomach pains here and there from all the rearranging that is going on. Sleeping is also becoming a little more challenging.  My sides have become the only comfortable way to sleep and I still have my 1am or 3am wakeup call from my bladder. I am 98% sure it is a girl now. I started a few baby items here and there.  It is really hard to hold off!