22 Weeks

How Far Along? 22 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: 4 ½ pounds

Have You Started to Show? Absolutely! We have random people tell us congratulations and Nick thinks it’s so funny because he forgets that it’s obvious to anyone who looks at me now.

Stretch Marks? No

Belly Button? In, but I think it resembles a cat butt.

Maternity Clothes? No new clothes this week but I think I will order some maternity jeans from Nordstrom soon since you can definitely feel fall in the air at night. I know the cold weather will be here before we know it.

 

Symptoms: I’ve had a few days this week where I have just not felt 100%. I think it correlates with our little man going through a growth spurt. I am also still having Braxton Hicks contractions every now and then, but they usually aren’t too bad.

Movement? Oh baby our little guy is so active. I don’t know what it is, but he has been so active this week! A few nights ago he kept me up until 2:30 AM with all his acrobatics in his “personal jungle gym”. He is also really active during yoga-just like he’s joining in with his mama! At my prenatal yoga on Monday we ended with a wall inversion and he would not stop flipping and kicking! It’s pretty hard to get my Zen on when he’s so active, but I love all the movement so I don’t mind.

Sleep? I have some good nights and then some nights that I really feel like I have pregnancy insomnia. I guess it’s just getting me ready for the huge sleep adjustment I will go through when Baby M arrives.

Exercise? We have been enjoying our nightly and sometimes morning walks with the doggies. The weather had been so beautiful so we are just trying to soak it up before it’s gone. My yoga instructor is also back from vacation so it was great to go to my prenatal yoga again. I really love my instructor, Jessica; she is so funny and super encouraging. She really makes you feel like you can do anything you set your mind to.

Food Cravings: Hummus with pea pods and cucumbers and Chobani Greek Yogurt. I eat so much yogurt it’s not even funny!

Food Aversions: Chicken. Nick and I were walking through Safeway and I went over by the deli section to grab some hummus and I smelled the most awful smell…FRIED CHICKEN! I seriously thought I was going to toss my cookies in the store!

Happy or Moody? Happy! I have been on cloud 9 since we found out we are having a boy! I just can’t wait to be a boy mama! Nick and I have also been able to spend some more time together lately and I truly cherish every moment I get to spend with him. I just feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and best friend.

Miss Anything? Coffee and caffeinated tea!

Nursery Progress: I ordered my Luca Glider from Monte Design this week! We decided to order a lime green chair with charcoal grey piping and a charcoal grey lumbar pillow. It should arrive in 8-10 weeks and I can’t wait!

(The green doesn't look like the picture here. It is actually more of a  bright green and is really pretty) 

Best Moment This Week: Nick and I have been reading our Hypnobirthing book to prepare for our classes and one part we read talked about bonding with your baby. It suggests talking to your baby and telling him how much he is loved to help with the bonding when he is born. It also talks about how important it is for the daddies to bond early as well. The day after we read this Nick was kissing me goodbye and then he bent down and kisses my tummy and said “Bye son, love you”. It brought tears to my eyes! I love my husband more than words could ever express, but just seeing a glimpse of him loving his son made me realize that I will love my husband in a completely new way that I can’t even comprehend yet when our son arrives and we get to experience loving a child together.

Looking Forward to: Reading more in our Hypnobirthing book and starting our classes.

21 Weeks

How Far Along? 21 Weeks

Total Weight Gain: 4 pounds

Have You Started to Show? Yes

Stretch Marks? None so far

Belly Button? In, thank goodness!

Maternity Clothes? No new clothes this week. I think I will wait to purchase clothes again until I need fall and winter clothes. I have my eye on some Citizen and Joes maternity jeans from Nordstrom.

Symptoms: My SI joint is still soar but getting better with my chiropractic and acupuncture treatments.

Movement? Our little man is super active! He loves to kick, punch and flip around in what I like to refer to as his own personal "jungle gym".

Sleep? I have had some really great nights of sleep this week and a few not so great nights. I have been waking up hungry early in the morning so I started taking a small bowl of blueberries to bed with me to munch on when I wake up.

Exercise? Yoga and walking are my go to exercises of choice. My yoga instructor has been on vacation this week so my prenatal class was cancelled. I really love my prenatal class so I can’t wait for Jessica to be back!

Food Cravings: Peaches and pea pods. I also love to dip my pea pods in hummus!

Food Aversions: Chicken – no surprise there!

Happy or Moody? Happy! So happy! I love being pregnant. I did have a few moments this week where I realized that I am already over halfway through and it made me a little sad. The time is just flying by!

Miss Anything? Motorcycle rides with my hubby! Nick and I are really missing our motorcycle rides before dark! Nick has a beautiful Big Dog Mastiff custom chopper and it is so fun to go on rides in the summer! I can’t wait to get back on his bike next summer!

Nursery Progress: I received my order from Kate Quinn Organics this week! All the clothes I bought from the warehouse sale are so adorable and I just love the soft organic cotton! My order of Cloth-eez Workhorse newborn organic cotton diapers from Green Mountain Diapers also arrived this week! They are so small and so cute! I can’t wait to start cloth diapering!

Best Moment This Week: Feeling all the movement from our little man! Nick has been able to feel him move a ton this week. He has also been able to see him kick from the outside! I was lying on the couch this week with my head in Nick’s lap and I saw him kick! I was so excited so I pulled up my shirt so Nick could see and we just sat and watched him kick and punch for several minutes! It is so amazing!

Looking Forward to: Stating our HypnoBirthing classes! We signed up for a 5-week course at Inland HypnoBirthing that starts on September 13^th and we are really excited to start our HypnoBirthing exercises. Our instructor, Mary Long, mailed us our book, HypnoBirthing, The Mongan Method, by Marie Mongan. We started reading it this week and so far we are learning a lot and really enjoying it.

Gender Reveal Photo Shoot

As I mentioned in my 20 Weeks post we found out that we are having a BOY! We really wanted a boy so we were overjoyed when we found out!

The Friday after we had our ultrasound we met Mr. Jay, our wedding photographer, at Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane for a gender reveal photo shoot. Mr. Jay with Mr. Jay Photography takes the most amazing photos! He also took our photos for our pregnancy announcement that I mentioned in my “I’m Pregnant” post.

 Nick and I were on cloud 9 and had the best time taking all the photos! I know that we will treasure these photos for a lifetime! Here are a few of the highlights from our shoot with the awesome reveal at the end....

Mr. Jay also has a Facebook page with clips of his other amazing photo shoots. You can check it out here. A big thanks to Mr. Jay for helping us capture this special time in our lives!

20 Weeks

How Far Along? 20 Weeks. Halfway there! 

Total Weight Gain: Almost 4 pounds

Have You Started to Show? Yes! My belly seems to be growing quite a bit this week

Stretch Marks? No

Belly Button? In

Maternity Clothes? No new maternity clothes this week but I did buy a few Bobeau long skirts from Nordstrom that aren’t maternity, but are super comfortable.

Symptoms: I’m still dealing with the sprained SI joint but chiropractic and acupuncture really help. My chiropractor (and godmother) also said to make sure when I sit or bend that I lead with my hips and then follow with bending my knees. This has been a huge help so far!

Movement? Baby Morelli is a super active baby!! I love every little kick and punch!

Sleep? I have been using my pregnancy pillow and it really helps me get a decent night sleep. I am so glad I ordered my snoogle!

Exercise? Yoga and walking. I have been going to my normal yoga classes at Garden Street Yoga in CDA and I also went to my prenatal yoga instructor’s class at the Kroc Center. It was really great. Jessica (my yoga instructor) is a really great teacher and I just love her little funny side comments!

Food Cravings: Peaches! I bought two flats of organic peaches this week and only have a couple left. They are so juicy and so delicious!

Food Aversions: Chicken. I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Happy or Moody? So HAPPY! This week was way better for me emotionally! I feel like my hormones have leveled out or maybe I’m just figuring out how to deal with them better. I am also so thankful to have such a patient and loving husband!

Miss Anything? Iced coffee and wine. With the crazy heat wave we have been experiencing I am really missing grabbing an iced latte when I’m out and about.

Nursery Progress: I ordered lambskin for the nursery this week and I am super excited for it to arrive! I have been looking for a lambskin for the nursery for several weeks and just haven’t found exactly what I was looking for at Little Spruce Organics. The Natural Mimosa Tree Tanned Lambskin by Kaiser is made with a Mimosa tree-tanning compound. This is a tree bark vegetable tanning compound not a chemical tanning compound. I think this will be perfect to throw on our bed and on our hardwood floors. We also received our Romina Furniture wood samples in the mail. I think we have decided on the two tone color combo using a caramel wood color and a cream. I plan on ordering the furniture this next week. I also order a few adorable baby items from Kate Quinn Organics. They are having a warehouse-moving sale so I scored on some adorable clothes for only $10 and $15!

Best Moment This Week: Our ultrasound! We had our ultrasound on Wednesday August 6^th. I schedule our appointment for 8 am because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep the night before! Of course, I woke up every hour after 3 AM, before I finally got up at 5:30. We were allowed to have one other person in the room with us so we picked my mom up on the way and arrived promptly at 7:30, a full 15 minutes early for check in. I was so excited that I walked right up to the lady at check in and was preparing to hand her my insurance card when my hubby said, “You have to wait to be called forward” and pointed to the sign he was standing next to. It was pretty hilarious considering we were the only people in the room. I quickly backed up and the lady just laughed at us and said come on over! My husband can be so funny! We were called back pretty quickly and ended up having the nicest guy named Randy do our ultrasound. He put the wand on my belly and the first thing he said was, “Well, no suspense here, you are definitely having a boy!” I was so happy and excited that I just burst into tears! Nick and my mom were both crying right along with me! It was just so amazing! We were trying to time it right to have a boy first and were just so excited!! I couldn’t stop crying throughout the whole ultrasound. Nick kept holding my hand while I kept on repeating, “I can’t believe we’re having a boy! I’m so happy!” We were all amazed at how clear the pictures were of our beautiful baby boy! He was moving his eyelids and opening and closing his mouth! He is a super active baby and everyone in the room got to see just how active he is! Randy took a really long time with us and explained everything he was looking for and pointed out every organ and bone! It was so nice that he took the time to answer all our questions! When we saw his adorable little face Nick said, “Wow, he has my cheeks!” We left our 1 hour and 45 minute ultrasound with 5 pictures of our beautiful baby BOY! I have been on cloud 9 ever since! We also did a really fun pregnancy reveal photo shoot with our amazing wedding photographer, Mr. Jay. As soon as I have the pictures I will do a separate post!

Looking Forward to: Filling the nursery with cloth diapers, clothes and furniture for our little man!