22 Weeks

How far along? 22 weeks and holding

Total weight gain: This was somewhat confusing to me this week. I’m 2 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been gaining my required weight. At my first weigh in during pregnancy, I was 10 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight. So my total weight gain from the first weigh in is 12 pounds. This puts me right on track with expected weight gain.

Maternity clothes? Still a good mix of both

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: I’m having trouble getting comfortable at night and I’m starting to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Frustrating.

Best moment this week: Being at BOTT with all of our friends! Baby wise, it was when Nate felt “O” move for the first time.

Miss Anything? Bending over

Movement: He is extremely active! Flipping around and punching mom all the time.

Food cravings: It’s been an ice cream week

Anything making you queasy or sick: nothing so far

Gender: Still a boy

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Nose bleeds, frequent bathroom trips and loss of balance

Belly Button in or out? Still hanging “in” there

Wedding rings on or off? Still off.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Working on our house, getting it ready to sell. I’ve got a to-do list and I’m ready to see it done. We’re also busy working on O’s bedding and getting everything together for the nursery. I’m excited to see it all coming together!

20 weeks

How far along? 20 weeks, although this is up for debate. I’ve always felt like I was further along then we thought, and measurements this week confirmed that. However, we are still holding with our original due date so I don’t risk getting induced prematurely and then a C-section because I’m “overdue”. I’m happy with this decision.

Total weight gain: still 2 pounds under pre-pregnancy weight! My doc is happy with the weight gain so far and I’m still shooting for just 30 pounds max weight gain. Lord let this happen!

Maternity clothes? Still a good mix of both

Stretch marks? Thank God this is still “no”

Sleep: I’ve been sleeping more this week, but I’m pretty sure this is stress related

Best moment this week: Seeing our sweet baby BOY on ultrasound! Baby O is beautiful and healthy! I’m so excited to finally have a name and gender for this sweet baby.

Miss Anything? Being able to do “normal” things without people freaking out about how much I’m lifting, if I fall, etc.

Movement: He is quite active! I drank a caffeinated drink before the US just to get him moving…..and he moved ALL NIGHT LONG! He definitely isn’t used to the caffeine and I wasn’t either. Monday night was a looooooooooonnnng night for both of us.

Food cravings: This week it’s still chocolate

Anything making you queasy or sick: thankfully I’m doing much better

Gender: It’s a BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Nose bleeds. Ugh ugh ugh

Belly Button in or out? still flat, though it’s EXTREMELY shallow. I’m getting nervous!!!!

Wedding rings on or off? Still rocking the fake rings. Waiting to hear back from our jeweler.

Happy or Moody most of the time: This has been an extremely emotional/stressful week and then you add pregnancy hormones to the mix……somebody pray for my poor husband.

Looking forward to: getting my check list done! I’ve got a huge list of nursery projects that I’m tackling. Anxious to see it all come together.

19 weeks

How far along? 19 weeks

Total weight gain: only 3 pounds under pre-pregnancy weight this week.

Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity things with a few "regular" pieces thrown in.

Stretch marks? Thank God, NO!

Sleep: I'm still sleeping about 6 hours a night. I have all this energy!

Best moment this week: Being with my mom for the last few days :)

Miss Anything? having a "normal" body. I managed to get a small sinus infection this week. I toughed it out with some OTC meds, but I longed to just grab a z-pack and go.

Movement: All the time! This baby is active.

Food cravings: I had to have El Chico on New Year's Eve. My sweet hubs drove me all the way across town for it!

Anything making you queasy or sick: the smell of urine. Awkward, I know.

Gender: We find out TOMORROW!! Whoo hoo!! I'm praying this little one will be active for the US and we will get a clear shot of everything. Also praying that we find a healthy baby in there!

Labor Signs: No, praise the Lord!

Symptoms: Some indigestion, excessive energy and frequent bathroom trips.

Belly Button in or out? still in

Wedding rings on or off? my real ring is off. However, I found some cheap rings that aren't giving me any problems at all. Planning to take my real ring to the jeweler tomorrow to see if they can coat it in something that I'm not allergic to.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and energetic!

Looking forward to: Tomorrow's US and getting my to-do lists going for this baby!!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I love the feeling of a brand new start and I love making changes for the New Year. I actually started my "new year" plans the week after Christmas. That really feels like the beginning of the year for me. I started planning my new habits and routines using this post and personal retreat guide. It really helped me get my priorities straight.

So here are a few of the things I'm doing this year:

-Reading my Bible. I knew I didn't want to start a 365 reading plan this year. I felt like with the baby coming that my plan would get thrown off track during the summer as I try to adjust to being a new mom. So instead, I'm doing some specific plans throughout the year. For the month of January, I am doing the New Thru 30 plan (found here). I also used YouVersion to create some other plans for months throughout the year. I am loving it so far!

-Consistent Bible Study. Right now I'm reading through Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods. I have been reading this for a few weeks now and I have only made it through a handful of pages. It is intense reading! The content, however, is really feeding my soul and providing some great insights and principles to apply to my personal study time. I also created a list of books and bible studies that I want to go through this year. I am a huge fan of Inductive Bible Study. There are also several lists available of suggested order for studying specific books of the Bible. I am starting with the book of John.

-Prayer time. I need to be more consistent with my prayer time. No doubt about it. I have found several great resources reading Rick Warren's book, the POA's prayer site, Praying Through the Tabernacle (also available through POA), and the girltalk blog.

-Personal Goals. I have several small personal goals that include specific things with serving our church, creating relationships with people around me and loving my family. Nate and I have a goal to spend time at least once a month with our families in some sort of fashion.

-Housekeeping. I am taking the CleanMama challenge this year. I use her printables and love the fact that she follows the same principles as my beloved FlyLady.

-Financial. We are continuing with Dave Ramsey's financial plan. Love us some DR! I would like to be more consistent with record keeping this year and actually utilizing our cash envelope system more than what we do.

-Health. I am continuing to menu plan for 300 calorie meals and meal replacements to equal 6 balanced meals a day. Thankfully this works for pregnancy and post-partum! I am working up to my 30 minutes a day on exercise and have great pregnancy routines and I'm finding great things for post-partum exercise. I would like to start a running program this fall, but we will see how that goes! I also need to be more consistent with my water intake on a daily basis. Thankfully, I have craved water with pregnancy. Let's hope that continues!

-For Fun. Two things I want to do "for fun" include keeping up with this blog and my 365 blog. I really want to document our life this year and all the changes coming our way. I am hoping this eventually leads to improving my photography skills with my Rebel. Right now I'm stuck with my iPhone camera and editing software until I get a new memory card for the Rebel.

So these are my goals this year. I'm anxious to see how this all works out! Be looking for my 19 week pregnancy post later today or tomorrow.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!