Week 26

How far along? 26 Weeks

Maternity clothes? Yep.  I had to buy a formal dress for one of our events this week so now I am looking for excuses to wear it again before the bump is gone.

Stretch marks? Not any new ones ;)  Even on days when I skip lotioning the rest of my body, I never miss my belly area.  Using Jergen's shea and cocoa butter lotion.

Sleep? Not enough of it.  This week was SUPER busy at work with MAJOR events.  I slept like a baby (ha!) on Saturday night for about 9.5 hours!

Best moment this week? Ordering the rug for the nursery and discovering Target subscriptions.  I have now officially set up many of our essentials to be automatically delivered to our house.  No need to create a major stockpile and no need to leave the house in the January freeze with a new baby. Win!

Movement? Still having on and off movement.  I was super busy this week, so not noticing movement as much.  I think he  might have been facing backwards a few days this week as well. 

Food cravings? Nothing out of the normal.  I have been feeling super full this week.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Still only really when brushing my teeth sometimes
Have you started to show yet? I feel like my belly really popped this week.  Finally look pregnant instead of chubby

Gender? Boy

Labor Signs? No

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On.  After a really long day this week, I was so swollen that I couldn't take my rings off.  Back to normal now.

Happy or Moody? Happy!

Looking forward to?  Getting the rug in the mail and being able to start working on the wall hangings I want to make.

Miss Anything? I have been around alcohol since being pregnant, but at the formal event this week, there was wine EVERYWHERE including the amazing smell in the air.  That was hard for a few minutes.  I refrained, and even skipped the wine at communion today.  Good girl.  N/A wine anyone?


We signed up for our labor and delivery course this week, so will be doing that in November. A coworker suggested taking a breastfeeding class as well, so I will look into that when we are at class.

We are also in full-on Hyvee mode.  After church, we used our BOGO coupon to get some HyChi while meal planning.  Little Sunday date before Josh spent the rest of the day working on homework and I took my football nap.  My only complaint so far is that their ad is not published online until Tuesdays.  Considering that we get the other grocery store ads a day early, that is frustrating.

20 Weeks

Heading into our sex prediction ultrasound tomorrow. Things have been going well. I have been feeling less morning sickness. I have us some problems with my sinuses which are heightened by bad weather. I am still tired and trying to get back into a workout routine. I tried yoga with my coworkers last week and it was fun but a little funny. For not having much of a bump, what is there sure can get in the way.

I have officially moved to all maternity pants and dresses. I can still fit in regular pants and shirts, but the pants are not comfortable and the shirts have a tendency to make me look chubby instead of pregnant.   I'm still feeling chubby most days but I do have peeks of a baby bump.

Heartburn has been on high lately. As Josh likes to say, baby will be born without any lack of calcium from all the tums I've been eating.

Cinco de Mayo

On Saturday, May 2nd, we decided that we should pick up some pregnancy tests.  I took one that afternoon, without reading the instructions, and it was inconclusive.  We thought it was positive, but it was too hard to tell.  Josh read the instructions, and gave me the scoop.  I took the next one on Sunday morning, thinking that would be more conclusive.  Turns out, Josh read the wrong instructions, so it was also conclusive.

I was set to go to the doctor on May 12th, so  we decided that I should wait to take the third test for the next weekend.  However, for whatever reason, when I woke up on Tuesday morning, I felt like I should take it.  Josh came downstairs while I was waiting for the time to be up.  He read the results.  It was very clearly positive this time.

We went to celebrate that night at El Loro for some virgin margaritas then to Half Price Books to pick up a pregnancy book.  I spent the rest of the night catching up on weeks one through five, since I was already on week six!

I went to work calling my doctor.  I found out that my regular doctor does not do babies.  I was really disappointed about this since I have been going to her since I was 16 and I wasn't aware that I wasn't going to be able to stick with her.  After a little research, I found another Park Nicollet location closer to our house, so we will be heading to Maple Grove.  This means we will be at the new Maple Grove hospital when the time comes.

Now we just have to wait for the weird limbo time to be up so we can actually go to the doctor and don't just feel like we're crazy and fake pregnant.

Week 25

How far along? 25 Weeks
Maternity clothes? YepStretch marks? Not yetSleep? Ok.  Avery keeps us awake and I am still having trouble on and off staying off my back.Best moment this week? Picking wall decor for the nursery!
Movement? On and off movement.  Dude seems pretty chill but likes to do a jig after I eat then rest
Food cravings? I ate a whole bag of kettle chips by myself this weekend...
Anything making you queasy or sick? Brushing my teeth sometimes
Have you started to show yet? Finally a little
Gender? Boy
Labor Signs? No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody? Happy!
Looking forward to?  My showers.  One at the end of October, first week of November, and right before Thanksgiving

Miss Anything? Chai tea all day every day.  Red wine. Sandwiches (which I don't even really like)

HBO Binge

The holidays were busy and fun as usual.  I am sad to have them over, but I can't complain too much since the weather has been (mostly) gorgeous and makes me think of spring.

Had a tour of General Mills over the holiday break

Josh got in a fight with Comcast over a snafu on our contract.  A few days later, they called to apologize and offer us free HBO for 6 months.  We are taking full advantage and binge-watching some HBO specials.  I finally got to see the Veronica Mars movie.  It was good, but unsatisfying.  I have also been watching Girls.  There is something about it.  I honestly can't say that I like the show, but it is addicting.  I can't stop watching.  I was trying to explain it to Josh and I don't think he quite understood what I was saying.  One day, he came home while I was watching and couldn't look away.  In that moment, he knew what I meant.

I do highly recommend Game of Thrones.  Josh and I have been watching this together.  It is quite graphic (both sexually and violent), but if you move on from that, the story is great.  The quality of the production is outstanding.  If you get HBO, you should be watching this.  If you don't get HBO, call your service provider and pick a fight ;)

Book Review: Committed: A Love Story

Josh has wanted to go back to school to get his MBA since the moment he threw his cap in the air at Concordia.  He patiently waited his turn while I went back to school, while we bought a dog, while we bought a house...  Well guess what?  It's finally his turn!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Last month, he went to an information session.  When reporting back, he let me know that the families of MBA students are called MBA orphans.  After laughing at how silly (and kind of offensive) that is, he turned to me completely serious, "You are going to read so many books."

In fact, I had started one a friend gave me FOREVER ago that very night, Committed: A Love Story by Elizabeth Gilbert.  She is the author of Eat, Pray, Love.  This book is completely different.  It is the story of a personal journey to come to terms with marriage so she and her longtime love could stay together.  She does a lot of reporting on research.  Quite technical.

It is an interesting read, something I would recommend if you wanted to learn more about the history or marriage in a more accessible way than a text book.  It is absolutely not a light, beach read.  It was good, but it did take me over a month to read.

New Favorite: Mulled Wine

We had our second annual Christmas wine tasting party last night.  To supplement the tasting, we wanted to have some other drinks as well.  Josh picked out his beer and I went searching for something else.  I discovered mulled wine on Pinterest. This is the recipe I adapted, and it is super simple.

Crock Pot Mulled Wine
1 bottle of red wine
4 cups of apple cider
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 cup Archer Farms mulling spices
1 orange sliced

Put everything on the crock pot and heat on high until hot.  We heated ours for about 2 hours before the party started and it was nice and warm.

We left all the spices in and as the party went on, it got nice and spicy.  I would say the sweet spot for the spices was at the 4-5 hour mark, but I LOVE Christmas-y spices.  You can filter out the spices when you feel it is done (if it lasts that long).

This is basically warm, Christmas sangria.  Yum!