25 weeks Baby Rials 2.0

Maternity outfit: Top - Liz Lang Maternity from Target, Shorts- Gap Maternity

Today I turned 26 weeks, so I'll be discussing our 25th week with this babe! 

Baby: Size of cauliflower, weighing in at 1.5 pounds and 13.5 inches!  Baby is enjoying a new sense of equilibrium - and now knows which way is up and which is down.  Baby is plumping up and growing hair (no heartburn, so it'll be interesting to see if this is really true)

Mama: This has been a tough month for us, hence the minimal updates here on the blog.  I was sick, then Charlotte got a stomach bug ON HER BIRTHDAY, poor girl.  We had to cancel her party which we were thankfully able to rescheduled to this weekend.  

I've been having stomach pains.  Not like my skin stretching, but my muscles... really uncomfortable.  In fact they were so bad Friday night I called the nursing off-hours line as I was tearing up and doubled over in pain. 

Turns out, I'm actually having contractions!  They think it's from dehydration, and although I'm drinking the same amount of water I usually do, since it's already starting to get warmer here in AZ and I've increased my activity, I should also be increasing my water intake to 120 oz per day!  

Needless to say the bathroom and I are best friends.  Since I started drinking more water and taking it a bit easier, the painful contractions have gone away.  The did advise if I had 4-6 that painful in one hour to head to the hospital as it might be pre-term labor. 

A little comparison of me pregnant with Charlotte on the left and new babe on the right

Friday we headed out on a family date night to the Diamondback baseball game.  Charlotte did REALLY well and loved seeing the team's mascot and dancing to the songs in between innings. 

The best way to watch any sporting event in my opinion!

Physical Health: Non-existent this week, although I worked out 5 out of 7 days last week. With my belly pain I'm taking a bit of a break to listen to my body.  I plan on incorporating some gentle prenatal yoga this week.

Maternity outfit: Top - borrowed Motherhood Maternity, Shorts - Gap Materntiy

My normal day to day look - leggings and a tank.  Tank - Liz Lang Maternity from Target

Charlotte and I also took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo.  She had some birthday money left and we decided to feed the giraffe's, she LOVED it!

Mental/Emotional Health: Yet again, this week has forced me to SLOOOOOWWWWW down, listen to my body, and thank my lucky stars for an amazing husband. He has been absolutely amazing helping out, especially with dinners and prepping and planning for Charlotte's party.

I had a real scare Friday night with the pain I was in.  I've talked to quite a few other moms and contractions are in fact normal if you're dehydrated, which makes me feel a bit better.  I'm nearly 3 years older than I was when I was pregnant with Charlotte, and although I'm in better shape, eating better, and exercising, each pregnancy is different and I need to keep that in mind.

I've also started to get a bit anxious again about delivery but trying to keep in mind that I really need to focus on the NOW and be patient with the process.  Accept that whatever is going to happen will happen when it comes to delivery.

22 Weeks and our 5th Annual Christmas PJ Party and Beer Exchange

First, I get to brag about myself a little bit :)

My first semester back in school went REALLY well!  I ended with a 4.0 and have submitted my application to the Honors Program.  I couldn't be more proud of myself!  I worked extremely hard this fall, and the payoff has been sweet.

Okay, on to the weekend.  We host a yearly Christmas party, and instead of having everyone wear ugly Christmas sweaters, we decided to be different and go with a pajama party theme.  It's great to see every one's style and how they interpret it.  We had Batman make an appearance, and a sock monkey footed pajama as well.

In addition to the pajama party theme, we also do a beer exchange.  This is kind of like a white elephant exchange, but every guest has to bring one bottle of wrapped beer.  Total Wine has a great selection of craft beer, and during the holiday season there are some great new beers that come out such as Bad Santa, Lump of Coal, and this year Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut beer was a BIG hit!

 I've also included some pictures of our decorations around the house, our beautiful tree we chopped down from up North all decorated, and our amazing friends.  It was a great turnout this year with many new faces making an appearance.  We love this tradition and hope to continue it for many years to come.

Our signature cocktail is a home made spiked apple cider.  We used all natural apple juice and put that in the crock pot with some cinnamon sticks, a sachet of cloves, and sliced oranges.  To add a kick, we stir in Captain Morgan Spiced Rum.

We added a few new ornaments this year including some ASU themed and a boomerang from our honeymoon to Australia.  Here's a closeup:

 Last but not least, here we are at week 22.  As you can see baby is weighing in at one pound.  This little baby is growing! 

Pregnancy dreams are in coming in full force.  The latest this week was a dream I had about Jeremy and I going camping.  I wasn't pregnant and it was during the early summer months.  We were up north in the desert/forest trying to find our campsite.  But we got lost along the way.  Suddenly we came upon a group, it was a J Crew photo shoot for their upcoming summer catalog.  I got out to ask for directions and they couldn't be happier to see me!  They said they were down a model and needed me to fill in, threw me a bikini and told me to try it on.  Of course it fit, and the director proceeded to "teach" me how to model for this shoot.

I mean WOW, right?!

Other then the dreams, no other symptoms or cravings to report.  My low back has been a little sore, but I think it's more from prepping for the party then the pregnancy.  Baby is continuing to move and kick a lot.  I absolutely love feeling this little one inside me.  I've found that if I drink and ice cold glass of water and lay flat on my back I can usually coax the baby into some kicks.

My goal for the week is to get moving more!  Jeremy and I went on a walk last night to look at all of the Christmas lights around our neighborhood.  It was so nice to be outside and spend some time with just the hubby and I.  We made lots of plans along the way of things to add to our home next year.

I guess that about sums up the week.  Only 9 days until Christmas!  Boy did that sneak up on me.  We have about half of our shopping done, and fingers crossed I can get the rest knocked out this week with everything wrapped.  

See you all next week!

Thanksgiving, 20 weeks, halfway!

What a busy week and it's only Thursday!  Monday we hit the 20 week mark, halfway done!!!  I can't believe I"m already halfway through this pregnancy.  With school, work, and life, it's gone by in a flash.

We had a doctor's appointment Wednesday and got to meet another one of the doctor's in the practice.  At our first appointment they explained that we wouldn't have one single OB throughout the pregnancy.  Since there are 7 doctor's in the practice, and they won't know which doctor will be at the hospital or on call at the time I go into labor, they try to schedule every appointment with a different doctor so you can at least meet everyone.  At first I was uncomfortable with this idea.  How am i supposed to build a relationship with the person that will deliver my child if I'm seeing a different doctor every appointment?  But now that we've been able to meet a few of the doctors I'm much more comfortable with this situation.  Even the male doctors!  Everyone at Maricopa OBGYN has been so nice, supportive, and informative, not to mention how comfortable I am with the doctor's I've met so far.

Anyhow, we were able to hear baby's heartbeat.  I asked the dreaded questions, "Am I gaining too much weight???"  With the reply I expected to hear, but needed to hear, "every pregnancy is different and you're right on track."  (Enter HUGE sigh of relief)  He explained this happens a lot at this point in pregnancy because the baby belly really "pops" during this time.  This made me feel slightly better ;)

We also went to our 3rd and 4th Thanksgiving dinners today.  We start off the second weekend of November with our "Friendsgiving" then go down to Sierra Vista for Bowden Thanksgiving after that, and today, on actual Thanksgiving, we went to my in-laws at noon, and my extended family's for dinner at three.  To say we're full is an enormous understatement!

Next week back to working out and eating healthy!  Here are a few pics from the past few days:

Our past Thankfuls

Current Thankfuls

Jeremy setting up the turkey fryer

Boys in the kitchen

My in-laws

my beautiful sisters-in-law

Thanksgiving at the Lampignano's
(my aunt and uncle)

14 Week Pregnancy update

Today is the last day of my 14th week.

I started working out again this week and am using a great DVD Program.  It's Tracy Anderson's The Pregnancy Project.  It's only $12 on Amazon right now and includes 9 DVD's!  I haven't done a single squat or lunge and my glutes and hamstrings are so sore!!  Definitely recommend this series if you don't have a gym membership, like working out at home, have minimal space, and don't need a ton of instruction.  She's not the best at explaining some of the exercises, but you can see her do them herself, and you have the option to eliminate her voice and just play the music if you choose.  I did purchase two 3 pound weights from target and in addition use my yoga mat and dining room chair for some of the exercises.  I had a workout partner with me this week:




I'm definitely feeling better.  My nausea has almost completely subsided, although I've still been pretty exhausted at the end of the day.  Headaches are still around and haven't seemed to get much better.  I've continued to experience the round ligament pains, but they're infrequent.  My tail bone has also really started to hurt, and I haven't done anything to it that I can recall.  I'll have to see if that's also a pregnancy symptom.  I have been CRAVING bean burritos, it gets stuck in my brain and I can't think of anything else.  I would be perfectly happy eating a bean burrito for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I almost forgot!...I also cut nearly 3 inches off my hair this week!  One of my good friends referred me to her hairstylist and I LOVE how it turned out!

Baby is the size of a lemon this week.  Approximate size is 3.4 inches and 1.5 ounces, which is almost double in weight since last week. Baby has the ability to suck his/her thumb and wiggle his/her toes.  We actually agreed on a baby girl's name this week (BIG VICTORY).  So we have one name on the list so far haha.  It's been pretty easy for me to come up with girl names, but I'm struggling with boy names!

This weekend we celebrated my Mother In Law's (MIL) birthday and I absolutely love the gifts we got her.  I heard a lot of good things about this book and thought it would be perfect for her:  Funny, You Don't Look Like A Grandmother.  I'm also a huge fan of ETSY and love buying personalized gifts from here.  We purchased this personalized wooden sign for her as well.



Well that sums up the week.  If everything goes as planned my mom will be coming up this coming weekend and we'll do a little maternity clothes shopping (I'm struggling to get into my non-pregnant clothes right now!)  See you all in a week!