20 weeks

How far along?  20 weeks

Baby’s Size:  Fruit - size of a cantaloupe  6.5 inches

Baby’s Weight: 10 ounces

Development: Her uterus is funnly formed and practicing acrobatics.

Weight gain/loss: +1 lb from pre-pg weight

Sleep: Nothing has changed.

Best moment this week?  There were quite a few: we now have the furniture & crib mattress.  I also found & ordered the fabric for the curtains and crib skirt.

Symptoms: Having to go to the bathroom all the time!

Labor signs?: Nope!

Movement?: Nothing really.  However, at my appointment today, the midwife was showing Chris the difference between the head and butt and how to distinguish the limbs.  As soon as the midwife "cupped" her butt, she flipped around.  I could feel this on the outside since I was pushing against her.

Belly button in or out?: In

What I miss: Nothing really - just the usual rare steak and sushi

Food cravings/aversions:  Sweets, especially Steak n Shake milkshakes (strawberry or chocolate)

What I'm looking forward to: The fabric arriving

Milestones: Halfway there!  According to the midwife, she now has a 92% chance of survival outside of the womb if heaven forbid something were to happen.

What I look like this week: (I changed my hair too.)

19 weeks (posted 5 days late!)

How far along? 19 weeks

Baby’s Size:  6 inches (the size of a large mango)

Baby’s Weight:  8 ounces

Development: Vernix is now covering the baby's skin.  Kidneys are now developed enough to produce urine and hearing is well-developed.

Weight gain/loss: I don't do this week to week but rather by appointment to appointment.

Maternity clothes?  Yep and I am going to start taking this one out b/c it will be maternity clothes from here on out!

Sleep: A luxury like always.

Best moment this week?  We found out that it's a girl!  We also now have all of our furniture thanks to my step-dad.

Symptoms:  Hunger, hunger, and more hunger.

Labor signs?: Nope

Movement?: Still nothing, but I am hoping it will be in the next couple of weeks.

Belly button in or out?: In

What I miss: Rare steak!

Food cravings/aversions: Still craving sweets, especially chocolate.

What I'm looking forward to:  Having the baby room cleaned out.

Milestones: A rep at work congratulated me without me having to mention anything about being pregnant.

What I look like this week: (Oh and my face always look fatter with my hair down!)

It's a ...

Okay, so I have to leave you in suspense for just a minute.  As some of you may know, I said that the baby is a boy because according to all of the old wives tales, it was a girl.  Chris was guessing girl.  Only 3 other people said girl and everyone else said boy.

During the ultrasound, the baby was super stubborn and uncooperative.  No big surprise there!  Our plan was not to find out the sex during the ultrasound, but rather have the tech print out a picture and put it in an envelope.  Then, during dinner that evening, we would open up the envelope. 

The baby looked great - heart, spine, umbilical cord, etc, looked great.  Then when they went to check the sex, they turned off the monitor so we couldn't see.  The tech said that the baby had its legs crossed and was moving around a lot.  She thought she got the sex, but wasn't 100% sure.  Fantastic!

The midwives wanted my cervix checked, so the tech was hoping to be able to see more during that scan, but of course, the baby had it's legs crossed and there was no way to tell.  The tech decided to try one more time with the regular ultrasound and she did a lot of pushing after I did some moving around.  The tech then said, yep, I definitely got it.  Yay!

I will say that watching the ultrasound was surreal.  The baby was literally stomping its feet.  We could not get one shot with both feet in the photo.  The baby was also punching and just moving around a lot.  I was laughing pretty hard (which I am sure didn't help at all) and the tech was laughing too.  She said that she likes doing scans like this because it makes her job more fun.  : )  So far I haven't felt any movement which is supposedly because I have an anterior placenta (meaning it is in the front).

Then we were done and left with the envelope in our hands.  Our plan was to go home, change, and go to dinner.  C was walking the dog while I was changing and then I heard him come inside, yell something, and go back out.  Come to find out, an unknown dog walked into our garage!  We had no idea who this dog belonged to as it did not have a tag but it did have a collar.  We decided to walk around and see if anyone recognized him.  We had never seen him before, so we did not know if he was from our neighborhood or not.

Everyone that saw him said they had never seen him before.  Fantastic.  There was no way we were going to leave him outside and we couldn't really bring him in our house because Jasmine is not dog friendly with 100% of dogs.  We decided to run to the vet (it is now 5:35 pm) to see if he has a micro-chip.  We get there at 5:55, have him scanned, and of course he has no chip.  Ugh!  We drive home and decide to just crate him in the garage while we go out to dinner.

Dinner was great.  The server asked if we were celebrating anything, so we told him what we were doing.  His guess was boy.  Before dessert came, we decided to open up our envelope.  There were 2 printed photos in the envelope.  The first one I pulled out said "3 line sign," so I immediately gush "It's a girl!" and C looks at me totally confused.  Then I pull out the second photo that says "girl" and he goes, see, I knew it was a girl.  Ha!

Now I feel comfortable sharing "what I wanted."  I definitely wanted a girl which is another reason I thought it was a boy!  C knew that I wanted a girl, so being the good husband that he is, willed it to happen.  : )

The other funny story from our dramatic day is that I was on my cell with my mom to let her know the results.  All of a sudden we see cop lights behind us and I ask C if he is getting pulled over.  Sure enough, he gets pulled over.  I ask C if he ran the stop sign and he says, "yes, I think I did."  Great, just great.  The officer comes up to our car and asks C if he knows why he is getting pulled over and C replied, "yes officer, I think I didn't come to a complete stop back there."  The officer tells him he is correct and asks for the usual license, registration, and insurance.  The officer asks if there is a reason he ran the stop sign to which I lean over and tell him that we just found out the sex of our baby and I was on speakerphone with my mom letting her know.

He then comes back to the car and says that the fee for running a stop sign is $160 something and 3 points on your license.  Fantastic!  He then says that he is giving us a warning, so "make sure you stop at all stop signs,"  told us congratulations and to have a safe night.  Whew!  Score one for our baby girl!

Oh, so back to the unknown dog.  We pull up in our driveway and there is a post-it on our garage with the address of the owner (who is on our block).  C walked the dog over and the owner was very thankful.  C said that the owner is an elderly person who doesn't walk the dog, so that is why we never saw him.  C gave him the suggestion to get the dog tagged and microchipped in case that ever happens again.

All in all, it was quite the eventful evening!

18 weeks

How far along? 18 weeks

Baby’s Size: 5 and a half inches

Baby’s Weight: 5 ounces

Development: Baby is now mastering hiccuping and yawning (but I can't feel this yet!) and now has his or own fingerprints.

Weight gain/loss: I am still down 4 pounds from pre-pregnancy.

Maternity clothes?  Yep!

Sleep: Eh, I haven't really ever been a good sleeper, but I did wake up at 3 am this morning because I was starving!

Best moment this week?  I finally figured out what the nursery will be if it is a boy.

Symptoms: Not really much besides an expanding belly.

Labor signs?: No!

Movement?: Nope.  The midwives think I have an anterior placenta (meaning it is in the front), so they think that my feeling of movement might be delayed.

Belly button in or out?:  Still in.  However, I have always had a very deep belly button (I could fit pretty much my whole pinky finger in there!)  Chris commented this week that he can actually see the end of my belly button now!  Haha!

What I miss: Sushi and rare steak

Food cravings/aversions: Sweets: butterfingers, root beer floats, & oreos

What I'm looking forward to:  The anatomy scan tomorrow!

Milestones: Supposedly I am now in the 5th month.  That seems crazy to me!

What I look like this week:

Oh and I must tell the story that my boss's wife (who has had 3 kids) made the comment to me today that my face now looks pregnant.  She asked if I could notice the fullness in my face and I was shocked!  I don't think my face looks bigger than it did pre-pregnancy, but hey, maybe that is just me!

Chicken, Garlic, & Sundried Tomato Pasta

I am finally able to tolerate grocery shopping and cooking again (Chris and my bank account are thankful for that).  This is one of my favorite recipes.  It is kind of like a healthy alfredo that isn't nearly as bad for you.  My poor gallbladder cannot handle alfredo sauce, so this is a tasty alternative.  Let me know what you think!

Original recipe:
1 16 oz package of farfalle pasta
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 cloves minces garlic
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp grated romano cheese
1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
3 cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated in water

1) In a large pot with boiling, salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Drain.
2) In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Add garlic and cook until brown.  Add the cream of chicken soup & milk, stirring until smooth.  Stir in dried parsley, salt, and ground fresh pepper.  Simmer 2-3 minutes.  Add chicken & hydrated sun-dried tomatoes.  Simmer 6-8 minutes.  Mix in grated Romano cheese.
3) Toss pasta with chicken mix.

My alterations:
1) I don't use 1/2 cup of butter.  I use 2/3 of a stick instead and use more condensed soup.
2) I LOVE sun-dried tomatoes and like to have 1 with each bite.  I use a whole bag of them but I have no idea what the measurement is.
3) I only usually use 2 chicken breasts instead of 3.
4) I increase the garlic, salt, & pepper since I use more condensed cream of chicken soup.

Nutritional info (when made without my alterations):
Calories: 438
Protein: 21.5 g
Fat: 19 g
Sodium: 629 mg
Cholesterol: 68 mg
Carbs: 46.2 g
Fiber: 2.3 g

So, do you have a preference?

This is by far the question du jour for me.  For the record, yes, I do have a preference for the sex of the baby, but I will be happy either way.  Other than my husband, the only other person I remember actually telling my preference to was my eye doctor.  His wife is 3 weeks further along than I am, so we were chatting and this is the usual question that comes up.  It seemed harmless enough to discuss this with someone that I see once a year.

I kind of feel like if I say I want a boy and it ends up being a girl (or vice versa), then people will say things and I just don't want to deal with that.  I was already outspoken enough pre-pregnancy - add the hormones to that and there is no holding back!

Also, for the record (another one), Chris thinks it is a girl and I think it is a boy.  So far, everyone has guessed boy except for one friend who had a dream that I called to tell her it is a girl.  Hopefully we'll know in 2-4 weeks!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!!!

It's that time of year again.  Time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next.  Since I am convinced that 2011 is going to be fantastic, I will get the bad out of my system first.

It's really only been the last couple of weeks that were really bad.  In the last 2 weeks of December, this is what was happening: 1) Our heat broke and it was very cold in FL.  There were a few days with lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s and 50s.  2)  I had a cold & a fever at the same time of having no heat.  Being sick while pregnant and not being able to take anything is no fun!  3) A very good friend was diagnosed with stage 2-3 cancer on Christmas Eve.  4)  Someone got  my debit card information and ran up $2200 in fraudulent charges at gas stations from 12.20-12.28.  I still had the card in my possession.  Also, on 11.12, we had to put my sweet 14 year old Victoria to sleep.  It was a very hard decision and I still tear up thinking about it, but I know in my heart of hearts it was the right thing to do.

Now on to the good...My photography business did really well in 2010.  I had several weddings and the majority of those were from clients who were "strangers" and not people I knew or referrals from people I knew.  I also began to do newborn and maternity photography and really enjoyed it.  I actually got to do the newborn session for the daughter of the bride and groom from my very first wedding.

In April, I faced an interesting career challenge.  I was working as a medical assistant for a physician and there was a lot of drama in the office.  I very quickly had to learn a lot in a field I was never trained in.  I also had a lot of issues with this physician, including harassment, among other things.  Thankfully in July, I became the office manager for another physician and am much happier in my current position.  It definitely still has its challenges, but hey, I'm the boss!  : )

Chris graduated in June with his B.S. in electrical engineering.  We will find out (hopefully) in February or March if he will be accepted into the Air Force as an officer.  This is something he really wants to do and would be a great thing for our family.  We have had a lot of negative feedback about this, mainly because of moving, but it is not a negative thing to me.  We are young and I have lived here my whole life!  I need a change!!!

We took a couples trip in June to Savannah and had a blast even though it was ungodly hot!  My mom, a friend, and I took a girls trip to Savannah in December and had a great time even though it was ungodly cold!  Perhaps we will get the timing right for great weather one of these times!

The biggest news of 2010 came in late October when we found out I was pregnant!  I am due on June 28th and we are obviously quite excited for what 2011 has in store for us.

2011 will be the year of a lot of firsts for us.  It will be the year we have our first child.  If Chris gets into the AF (which he is pretty confident he will), there is a good chance that we will be moving for the first time out of state.  (Well, first time for me.  I have always lived in my current area.)  I am sure I am leaving out a lot of details from 2010, but I think I covered a good portion of the highlights.

Goodbye 2010, hello 2011!