{ 16 weeks }

How far along are you? ~16 weeks :)

Best Moment This Week: Spending time at the county fair with my husband and son. I wasn't able to enjoy much of the food (which probably wasn't a bad thing) but oh well. We had a really fun time checking out all the animals. Ryan just about freaked out when he got a balloon... that totally made his day because he loves balloons!

Prayer requests? I have been having a lot of sciatic nerve pain which has been on and off and basically impossible to deal with. I really need to make an appointment with my chiropractor! I also have still been sick, just really nauseous all the time. I'm feeling pretty good at the moment, though!

What scripture is speaking to you this week? Better than last week, I was in the Word two or three times as opposed to... none... the previous week. So I think just reading in general has been speaking to me; it's crazy how something can be SO BENEFICIAL to me and my day but yet I don't do it as often as I should. You'd think I would learn...

Baby's growth? Supposedly baby is the size of an avocado. MMM, yummy... one of my favorite foods (just not right now!). 3.5oz, 4.5in... still so tiny, but growing!!

Weight gain (or loss)? No official weight check yet, but I don't think I've gained anything.

Cravings: Sometimes lemonade. That very quickly goes away. Sometimes mints. Sometimes milk. Sometimes... hmm, that's it.

Food Aversions: Pretty much everything...?

What Made Me Cry This Week... my husband working 70+ hours and not being able to be home much. He is a very hard worker for which I am blessed, but he is also very missed! I also watched some home birth videos and they made me cry too ;)

Sleep? Ryan has been sleeping better, so I have been too. Teething comes and goes and those nights are rough, but for the most part, he sleeps 10ish hours straight.

Maternity Clothes? Not yet! 

Gender? Unknown to us at this point ;)

Movement? Like I mentioned in my last post, I felt baby move for the first time around 15 weeks. I've been feeling him/her move a few times since then, but not too much.

What I miss... having enough energy to be a good wife to my husband. Praying that it returns soon! But yet trying to understand that this is just a season. 

Something I'm Excited About... two more weeks until our next appointment! And then maybe two-ish weeks after that, we'll find out the gender...!! ;) 

Paper Rose Wreath

I'm kinda lonely today. For someone who enjoys staying home, being home, never leaving home... that's saying a lot! I honestly don't go and do many things during the week. I'm just kind of a hermit in that way, I guess. I'm definitely a introvert... some people just drain the energy right out of me! I need to re-charge. I need to be in my safe place.

Well... I've been recharging and in my safe place all week. I think I've left the house once... or twice? And that was to go my parent's house, ten minutes away. ;] I usually try to keep my weekends open, because Jake works half days on Saturdays and then we usually try to do something together later on. Well, he's working all day today (and I don't know about tomorrow... I hope he gets tomorrow off!!) and I'm antsy to get out of the house and do something. Maybe Ryan and I will go to the county fair later...

Or I suppose I could mow the lawn. That's boring, though... hmm. Any suggestions??

ANYWAYS. I started this project... *whispers* last November. It's very time consuming, especially if you have a little one! I could really only work on it at naptime, but I didn't want to devote EVERY SINGLE naptime to it... so it took some time to finish. And then I would go weeks without even thinking about it, because it's just easy to forget about. Oops.

I've seen this idea all over (where else?) Pinterest and decided to give it a go. Most of the ones I had seen were made out of colored paper, but I really liked the one I saw made from an old book. So I bought a 400+ page book at the thrift store. It was over 100 years old and it was in German, so I have no idea what it was even called or about. I wasn't planning on putting a bow on it like there is, but I ran out of paper! And I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this bow, so we'll see if it goes, stays, or changes...

If you'd like the tutorial on how to make one, go here; or just search Pinterest and you'll find a bajillion and one of them to follow ;] I didn't make mine exactly how this specific tutorial showed, but it gives you the general idea.

Here is my slow but sure progression (terrible phone pics, be forewarned!)...

[November 2011]

[April 2012]

[July 2012]

[Finished! Sort of. July 2012]

Now I just need to decide if I want to keep the bow or not. Or if I should just change it. Or try and find another 100 year old German book at a thrift store ;] 

{ embrace the camera : 7.26 }

Now this is an ETC picture if you've ever seen one. Sick as a dog, no make up, crazy messy hair... the works!! But Ryan and I snuggled on the couch and had a "moment" so I snagged a picture on my phone. I love my snuggle bug!! 

Linking up with Emily at The Anderson Family Crew... 

{ 15 weeks }

I'm 15 weeks pregnant this week... and I felt the baby move for the first time!! I had been questioning it for the last week, whether it was really baby or not... and this time there was no doubt. Of course I haven't felt him/her since, but that's okay... there's still a lot of room in there for the little orange-sized baby to move around!

I'm linking up with My Joy-Filled Pregnancy's Pregnancy Journal... she posts each week about her pregnancy and allows other pregnant mamas to link up to her blog and share about their pregnancy experience. All along the way, she hopes that we will go to other pregnant mama's blogs and encourage them and pray for them. She posts a list of questions to answer each week... since this is my first time answering them, I'll probably copy/paste the whole list, but I won't answer all of them every week since they'd be the same answer.

How far along are you? ~15 weeks... I'm not giving specifics because this time I'm not telling people my due date... HA! 

Best moment this week? Snuggling with Ryan on the couch in the early mornings.

Prayer requests? I've still been pretty sick, which can be both easier and harder when there's another little one to take care of. It's nice to have have the distraction, but it's also hard when you feel so awful. Jake is working a lot, too, so I'm trying very hard to have the energy to be a caring wife and make dinner most nights... but doing anything besides getting dressed (if I'm lucky), reading the same book 300 times over to Ryan, or picking raisins out of the couch is pretty exhausting most days. 

What scripture is speaking to you this week? In all honesty, I haven't been in the Word nearly as much as I should. And I don't pray as often as I should, either. But the first step is to see that and understand it needs to change, right? So I'm going to make more of an effort to "pray continually" and refresh myself in the scriptures more than I am. 

Baby's growth? Baby is the size of an orange this week, supposedly... 4.0 inches and 2.5oz. These fruit/veggie comparisons always throw me off... maybe I buy ginormous oranges, but these never seem too accurate ;] 

Symptoms? Sick, sick, sick. I feel super nauseous more often than not. I've been getting a few more headaches, lately, which is different than when I was pregnant with Ryan... my headaches went away then! But I think the heat gets to me, and it's definitely worse when I don't drink enough water. And that's my reminder right there... *guzzles water*

Medical Stuff? My midwife tried to draw my blood at my last appointment, but my veins weren't too cooperative, so she's sending me to a lab to have them done. I just have to have it done by my next appointment (August 13th). Other than that... nada!
  
Weight gain (or loss)? I was down 6lbs in between my last two appointments (3 weeks apart), probably mostly due to having the flu, but it doesn't help that I'm just not able to each much. I think I might be down a few more pounds even now... so I'm not sure what she'll want me to do. 

Cravings? Food Aversions? I don't really have any cravings, but I definitely have aversions. I don't want anything hot (unless it's soup, which has been my main source of calories lately...), heavy, or tomato-y. Hot coffee definitely makes me sick, but I really only drank it because I liked it (not for the caffeine), so I've been fine doing without. Basically... nothing sounds good, ever. Unless there is the rare occasion that something does, and then it goes away as soon as I've made it. AHHH. 

What Made Me Cry This Week? Well it wasn't this week, but it was last week... as I was rocking Ryan to sleep, I just got this horrible feeling that all my special moments with Ryan were over and that I would never have any ever again! He was sleeping in my arms and I just bawled. I guess the emotions of preparing for our 2nd are harder than I anticipated. I know there will be change, but change is hard for me... even if it's for good reason! 

Sleep? When Ryan sleeps, I usually sleep pretty well... but he's teething right now, and is a drooling, sneezing, watery mess and he just isn't able to rest very well at night. Thankfully he started mostly sleeping through the night last month, so more often than not, he sleeps well. Just not right now :] 

Maternity Clothes? Nope... and since I've lost weight, I don't think I'll be in them for a while. I didn't wear them at all with Ryan so we'll see how I carry this one... 

Gender? We plan to find out, but we won't be telling anyone ;] That was our compromise. I wanted to find out, but Jake was on the fence... his stipulation was that if we find out, we can't tell ANYONE. I guess I'm fine with that rule as long as *I* get to find out ;] 

Movement? Like I said earlier, I felt the baby move for the first time this week!! So exciting!! 

What I miss.... being outside! The heat makes it unbearable for me, so we stick indoors most of the time. It just makes me feel so much more sick when I'm hot and sticky. I'm so excited that a majority of my pregnancy will be in the fall; I LOVE FALL and we will be outside as much as we can :] And the garter snakes will be gone then, too... YAY! 

What I'm looking forward to.... feeling the baby move more :] 

Something I'm Excited About.... . getting a printer this week! Now I get to print labels and calendars and meal plans and grocery lists and get organized... I'm so excited!! 


...I think that's all for now! :] No "pregnancy photos" yet as I'm not really even showing... at all... and the one photo I have isn't really blog appropriate, ha. So you'll have to wait. ;]

{ embrace the camera : 7.19 }

Wowza. I haven't done ETC since February. *sheepish* You can see here and here for my main reason why... and just being busy in general, too.

Ryan and I went to a parade last weekend for our town "festival." The parade is pretty much the only thing we do because everything else involves drinking... or being around intoxicated people... which doesn't happen to be on my list of favorite things to do, especially with a little one around. Anyways, we enjoyed the parade and got one good awkward photo of the two of us, in which my head looks ginormous and the angle is funky. At least Ryan is cute, as always! You can see the rest of the photos from the parade here. :]

14 Weeks // 2nd Trimester

This week I am 14 weeks pregnant... welcome to the second trimester!! At 14 weeks, the average baby is 3.4" long and weighs 1.5oz. So tiny, but so rapidly growing!!

The Bump says, "Hungry much? Not that you're not feeling so queasy, you're probably enjoying eating. A lot."

HA. Not so much. Still feeling queasy, thank you... maybe not quite as often, but it's definitely still there. If I'm sick, it's in the evenings. So much for morning sickness!! So often people ask me, "Are you feeling good??" And while I don't want to complain, I don't want to lie, either! I'm just so thankful it's for a good reason. This would be super lame if I was just sick all the time for no reason at all.. but there is a very good reason and blessing being nourished within my body right now, so I'll take it!!

I had my second appointment last night with the midwife. We weren't able to catch a reading on baby's heartbeat this time, although we did hear it for a split second. It's not of concern, baby was just moving around too much in there to get a good reading. Everything else looked good... my blood pressure was a lot lower this time, 110/75... it was 130/80 last time; I think it was because I was so nervous! I remember when I was pregnant in Kenya, they had to take my blood pressure twice every appointment... once in the beginning, and once at the end... it was always much lower at the end. ;)

I've lost about 5lbs since my last appointment three weeks ago, probably because of the fact that I had the flu two weeks ago, and I also just haven't felt all that great. My midwife didn't mention it as being a problem (but her assistant was the one who took the weight so I don't know that my midwife saw while I was there), but hopefully I can maintain instead of lose right now. Of course I have a few pounds to spare... ;) but now is not the time to be losing weight. I probably need to be eating more, and I definitely need more protein... it's just so hard sometimes!

My midwife tried to draw some blood for labs last night, but since she doesn't work in a lab for 8 hours a day, she obviously doesn't get as much practice... she tried once but didn't want to keep poking me... how kind! ;) My veins just did not want to cooperate. So I'll have to go into a lab sometime soon and have them draw the blood for her instead. Not a biggie.

My next appointment is in August... the 13th, I think. Time seems to be flying by... this is weird!

Parade

Our town had their annual parade this weekend. It was Ryan's first one, and I wasn't sure what he was going to think! He loved it, and sat in his stroller, completely mesmerized, for an hour and a half! It was a lot longer of a parade than I was thinking it would be, but it was fun. It was HOT though, too, and by the end of it, we were both ready to be back in the air conditioning!

[watching the trucks start to come down the street]

[balloons!]

[his first sucker... he kept rubbing it on his lips and licking it off... haha!]

[phone photo: he kept chewing on the opposite end, too... silly!]

[me and my favorite little guy...!]

[completely relaxed in his stroller... seriously the best second hand, $5 purchase I have EVER made!!]

[he was so thrilled that the horses stopped right in front of him. he kept holding out his hand and hoping they would come to him. this child has no fear of large animals!!]

[hot and rosy-cheeked but still having fun!]

["alright, we can go home now...!"]

The Little Things

I need to get better about blogging the little things, and not just the "big events" that take place. Most of our life is filled with the little things, anyways, and those are the ones that matter... the every day, normal life things.

I've been debating about shutting down my Facebook and using only this blog to post pictures and update... and use e-mail to keep in touch more... Facebook is really starting (well, continuing) to creep me out with how often they change their privacy settings and such! It's still on the table of thought, for now, but it might happen... we'll see. I know I haven't been too "private" on this blog, with using real names and all that... but I feel like I've tried to keep the more important details on the down low so I'm not too worried about it.

Anyways, now that I've been feeling a *little* bit better (here's hoping for the Magical Second Trimester!), I'm really going to try and keep up. Haha, how many times have I said that??


The little guy is 17 months now... time is flying, but it it oh so precious and sweet! He has such a fun, quirky personality that just shines through more and more each day. You can definitely tell what his favorite things are... bananas, cars/trucks, monkeys, puppies, swinging, bubbles, and vacuuming... haha! It's hilarious that the "bonus" for cleaning up the toys is being able to vacuum the living room. He loves it... crazy boy.

Here he is, enjoying one of his favorite things!

Love my sweet Rhino :]