25 Weeks



How Far Along: 25 Weeks. I can't believe I am almost done with the second trimester! Time is really going so quickly. Only 105 more days!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of cauliflower. I'm pretty sure it's a bunch of them, not just one though.

Weight Gain: I've gained about 9lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Wearing more maternity. My cotton sundresses still fit me, and they are def. my favorite thing to wear still.

Movement: Feeling so much movement, it's wonderful! Sometimes I notice my belly is lopsided, then evens out. I guess she is really moving in there.

Sleep: Sleeping okay, some nights better than others.

Symptoms:I haven't blogged much about all the great things that go along with pregnancy, but there are some great symptoms. I think my skin looks a lot better than it normally does. My hair is growing faster and looks better too. My nails are even stronger than normal too.

Food Cravings: Still McDonald's vanilla ice cream cones!

Food Aversions: No food really turns me off. Just certain smells I can't handle.

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach and being able to lift. Also, not having to pee all the time.

What I’m Looking Forward To: Summer school is almost done, which means being able to sleep in. I'm looking forward to this because sometimes it takes me forever just to fall asleep.

Best Moment This Week: Working on things for the nursery. It feels so great to check things off the list.



Here is a picture of the bump for the week!

Getting Started

I wanted to post some pictures of what we've been doing around here today.

We've started painting nursery furniture! We are using my old dresser and nightstand that I got in middle school. I got it unfinished, and never did anything with the nightstand. The dresser is white, and I never sealed it, so there is no sanding involved which is nice.

I brought the drawers downstairs, and of course Betty had to check them out.

I told Clarke I might take pictures and post her reaction to everything we do to get ready for this baby. She always wants to know what's going on.

We still have quite a bit of painting left to do for her furniture, but I keep telling myself when summer school is done I'll have plenty of time. So for now I'll just enjoy the Olympics!

Pink Paint!

I am so excited the nursery is pink!

It's very pink, like bright pink! It's a lot right now, but once we get all the furniture and everything else in there it's gonna look so good.

Here's an in progress shot. I didn't paint any of the room, both grandmas came over and painted most of it. Clarke went back and touched it up. (We were having trouble installing the ceiling fan in the guest room so Clarke and his dad were doing that while they painted. They finally got it up and working, it was a very productive Saturday in our house!)

My mom doing the edging.

Shelley painting too.

Betty loves this room! The past couple days I've gone to look for her in all of her regular spots and she's not there. She'll just be hanging out in the nursery, I guess she likes the bright color.

The closet is yellow. I love how it looks against the pink. I got a bunch of that yellow paint for some accents throughout the room too.

All I hafta do is take the tape off and clean up the paint stuff. So glad to have this done!

24 Weeks Update

How Far Along: 24 weeks. Hard to believe in less than 4 months she'll be here.

Size of Baby: She is the size of a canteloupe.

 

Weight Gain: I've gained about 8 lbs. At my last dr.apt. she said my weight gain was good, that felt great to hear!

Maternity Clothes: Some maternity pants/shorts fit. Some are still too big. Some maternity tops fit too. I've really noticed my belly getting bigger this week.

Movement: Lots of movement at night when I'm trying to sleep!

Sleep: Sleeping okay, but not as well as I used to. It's def. getting harder.

Symptoms: Some cramping this week, but nothing too bad. Still enjoying the second trimester mostly.

Food Cravings: Still McDonald's vanilla icecream cones.

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach. When it's hard to get comfortable at night I really wish I could just sleep on my stomach like I used to.

What I’m Looking Forward To: Working on the nursery. I'm excited about refinishing the furniture. Well, refinishing the parts I can. Some of it entails using oil based primers or chemicals I can't be around. But I'll get to paint some of it.

Best Moment This Week: The grandma's painted her nursery pink! I'll post more about it soon, but it looks great!

Fun Nursery Find

I must say I am really excited about my most recent nursery items purchased! I have been looking for new hardware for the dresser and nightstand ever since we found out we were having a girl. I just love all the pretty crystal hardware that is out there, and think it would be perfect for a little girl's room. The only problem is it's super expensive. I absolutely love this clear crystal handle at Anthropologie. But at $12 a pop times 11 (what I need for all the drawers on the dresser and nightstand) that would be $132 plus tax. And I would still need 3 knobs for the cabinet part of the furniture pieces. (I feel like that doesn't make sense, but the nightstand basically has a cabinet part on the bottom with a drawer on top, and the dresser has a little cabinet part too.) So I digress, but basically I have been looking for a month only to find cute expensive options.

Well today I was at Hobby Lobby (where I could easily spend so much money, but I was good and practiced self control!) and found more cute crystal hardware. I didn't even know they sold hardware but I somehow stumbled upon it. The prices were cheaper than I had seen elsewhere but not by that much. Basically the same crystal handle I mentioned above was $2 cheaper. They also had the exact same clear crystal flower knob found at Layla Grayce for $4 less. Then I saw all the hardware was 50% off!!! I was so excited. I got 3 of those cute flower knobs for $10.50 vs. paying $33 plus shipping, saving about $25! (not sure how much shipping would be) I also got the crystal handles at $5 each vs. $12 each. Saving over $77. So for a total I saved over $100! :)

So yes, I just wrote a whole blog post about hardware. But it's the little things like this that make me happy! Haha! But in all honesty I am loving decorating this nursery. I've always wanted to decorate a nursery and it really is as fun as I thought it would be.

Up next: painting the nursery pink finally!

Nursery Lighting

The room that will be our little girl's nursery was our extra room that we never used. Here is a picture of the light that was there when we bought the house:

I've always hated this light, and it's definitely not right for a nursery. So this past weekend we took on the task of taking it down and installing a ceiling fan. I debated awhile about what kind of lighting I wanted to put in this room, but I decided on doing a ceiling fan for these reasons:

~It's something she can grown into, even when she is older. Also whenever we sell this house it will appeal to more buyers than a typical kids light.

~I wanted something neutral.

~Ceiling fans reduce the risk of SIDS. It circulates the air which helps baby breathe better.

So the first thing we did was spray paint the fan blades. Well, Clarke did the spray paint. We wanted the silver hardware on the fan but white blades and that wasn't an option. So instead of buying new white fan blades Clarke just spray painted them. This was the easy part.

Betty enjoyed playing with all the little bags and twist ties in the box.

Then we couldn't get the wiring right, and once we had the fan up it wouldn't work. After spending almost all day putting the many parts together we gave up.

Luckily the next day we got it working and now it looks great and is functional!

So happy to have this part done with the nursery and we can move onto things that are more fun. The next big thing we have to do is paint the walls. And refinish a lot of furniture. Like 5 or 6 pieces. But that's for another day! 

23 Weeks

How Far Along: 23 Weeks.

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a grapfruit! She is almost a foot long too.

Weight Gain: Still about 7 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Wearing some maternity shirts. Still mostly sundresses are my favorite/ most comfortable thing to wear.

Gender: So excited we are having a little girl!

Movement: Feeling so much movement almost every night. Really whenever I am sitting still I can feel her move. Clarke has felt her move some too!

Sleep: Sleeping okay, but I can tell it's starting to get harder. I don't know if I am sleeping as well as I was because I seem more tired than before. (But I think doing summer school has a lot to do with that!)

Symptoms: Just feeling really tired after work.

Food Cravings: McDonald's vanilla icecream cones. I make Clarke take me through the drive through all the time to get them now! Good thing they are only $1!

What I Miss: Not being ablt to lift. Working with preschoolers with special needs is hard when you can't pick them up at all.

What I’m Looking Forward To: Putting the nursery together. We finally got the ceiling fan up (more about that in another post) and I can't wait to paint it!

Best Moment This Week: This really has nothing to do with pregnancy, but I started working summer school this last week. It's been hard adjusting to getting up so early, but I have loved seeing a lot of my students there. Also, I've gotten to see old students from my first year who have moved to different schools. It's been fun to give them hugs!

Cute Baby Finds

The only draw back to having a little girl is there are way too many cute things out there for her! I couldn't resist posting some adorable things I want to buy for her!

I love these cute little boots on Etsy. Perfect since she will be here for the fall!!

And these little shoes are adorable too!!

I love this JMU bib!!

I love all the ruffles too! This onesie is a favorite.

I also love this one too. I could be here all night posting cute things, but I'll stop so I can make dinner. But I must say I can't wait to dress this little girl!

22 weeks

How Far Along: 22 weeks.

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a papaya.

Weight Gain: I've gained almost 7 pounds. I def. gained weight on vacation!

Maternity Clothes: I tried on some maternity pants the other day and they def. fit me. Still wearing a lot of sundresses, which arn't maternity though. Most of my regular shirts still fit.

Gender: Girl!!

Movement: I am def. feeling her move more and more each day. It's crazy!

Sleep: Still sleeping well.

Symptoms: My nails and hair are growing faster. The heat is really getting to me, almost makes me sick if I stay out there too long.

Food Cravings: Pasta and chips and french onion dip, Yum. Which is probably why I gained so much weight on vacation.

What I Miss: At risk of totally sounding like a snob I am going to say it anyways. I miss my nice jeans. My Citizen of Humanity jeans. They are just so much softer and comfortable than the maternity jeans. I guess that's why they cost so much and I've gotten spoiled.

What I’m Looking Forward To: Decorating the nursery. Got fabric swatches and can't wait to look at paint colors.

Best Moment This Week: Feeling her move so much. Also nursery planning!

the fourth

We had a great time yesterday celebrating the fourth. We both didn't have to work so we got McDonald's breakfast, and just enjoyed relaxing around the house.

We met up with friends at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery for lots of food, fireworks and of course they had beer (which I heard was delicious). I honestly was excited about the food trucks! They had one of my favorite restaurants, Station 2 and yummy pizza from Pizza Tonight. Not to mention one of my favorite ice cream places, Gelati Celesti. Seriously this pregnant girl was happy! Okay, have I talked enough about food?

Besides just eating we were perfectly positioned to see fireworks from The Diamond, Dogwood Dell and some random spot near VCU. It was great. I must say it was hot, really hot. But we still had such a great time.

Me and Clarke loved people watching, especially those with babies. Checking out the different baby wraps to carry them and strollers, it's so crazy to think that will be us next year! I must say I also enjoyed seeing everyone's cute pictures of their kids all dressed in red, white and blue on Facebook as well. Once again, so crazy that we will get to do that next year!

So thankful for all those who serve to keep our freedom free. Thankful for America and good times with great friends!

21 Weeks and Nursery Planning!

How Far Along: 21 Weeks.

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a pomegranate.

Weight Gain: Not sure, but I def. gained some weight on vacation.

Maternity Clothes: Haven't tried my maternity clothes on in awhile. Just wore my maternity bathing suite (which was a little big) and cotton sundresses at the beach.

Gender: So excited it's a girl!! Bring on the pink!

Movement: I have been feeling so much more movement this past week!

Sleep: Still sleeping well!

Symptoms: Nothing new really, glad to say I am enjoying the second trimester. I do think my skin looks a little better too.

Food Cravings: I got fried pickles at the beach when we went out to dinner one night. I guess that fits the cliche. But they were really good!

What I Miss: At the beach my family got some fun fruity alcoholic drinks. I would have liked to have one too!

What I’m Looking Forward To: Decorating the nursery! I had a couple ideas and lots of pins on pinterest about nurseries depending if it was a boy or girl. Now that I know it's a girl I can't wait to pick out fabric and paints. I know I want the room to be pink and we have plans to refinish a dresser and nightstand, which will be yellow with white trim.

Best Moment This Week: Enjoying the beach with family. Also registering at Target and Pottery Barn Kids. We got this cute mobile on sale at Pottery Barn Kids which I am really excited about. It was originally $70 and we got it for $30! It's hard to tell from the side but looking up they are flowers.

I'm so ready to start on the nursery! Even before we were ready to have kids we bought this house knowing the extra third bedroom would one day be the nursery. It's crazy that it's finally happening!

Here is a picture of me at 21 weeks. Clarke is off hitting golf balls so I just took one in the bathroom again.

Yay for a real baby bump!!