24 Weeks (+1 day)

Okay, here I am at 24 weeks and one day, so I didn't manage to squeeze in a post during my 23rd week. There wasn't much to report as far as baby goes anyway. I did, however, get my biggest kick to date a few days ago and Adrian was pretty excited to feel it too. He said he thought about it all day - he's going to be a great daddy to our little boy.

We spent a couple days, along with my brother and my friend Jessica, in Cleveland, mostly to tour around and go to some great restaurants. In two short days we managed to squeeze in Tommy's, Lola, Sokolowski's, and Bac. We also spent a few hours at the zoo and stopped by the West Side Market. We had a really great time and spent the nights camping out in a huge tent in Adrian's parents' backyard. Everyone was so worried about my comfort sleeping in a tent, but ironically, they were the best two nights of sleep I've had in weeks! Apparently I need to set up an air mattress in the yard and I'll be all set.

I still have no progress to report on any home redecorating, mostly because we've been busy and it has still been a little too warm for that much work. Later today I'm going to Home Depot with my mom to purchase paint and supplies, so hopefully that will get the ball rolling. I have a lot I want to accomplish before I get too far along in this pregnancy. We're painting the kitchen top to bottom (including cabinets), painting and decorating the nursery completely, hopefully installing a new sink and maybe painting in the bathroom... and I'd love to squeeze in painting the master bedroom, too, but we'll see if I have the time and energy to get it all done. Our bedroom is not bad as it is, so it's at the bottom of the list.

Oh and remember how I was going to post pictures of the nursery furniture when it was all assembled? You'll just have to keep waiting on that because the crib is still sitting in a box in our hallway. Here I thought I would be so eager to get the nursery set up and I can't even get things out of boxes! Right now the nursery serves as a room I visit to look at all the cute little baby clothes we've accumulated so far. He'll be the best dressed baby on the block!

Well, that's about all I've got at the moment, and no fruit update... so how about I leave you with a couple pictures of the most handsome little boy I've ever seen? These are shots from our second anatomy scan at 22 weeks.

Shy like his mama.

A little more of a glimpse of that darling face.

I'll be scheduling a 3D ultrasound somewhere between 28 and 30 weeks, so there will be more pictures down the road when he's fattened up a little. My mom says he looks like Adrian, haha.

22 weeks (+6 days)

Blogging is one thing I can do during this heat wave that isn't absolutely exhausting, so I am happy for the moment of peace and quiet! I have never been a hot weather girl and being 23 weeks pregnant makes me want to seek out any excuse for air conditioning and/or swimming, neither of which are available at home. Well, we do have an air conditioning unit in the bedroom, but I don't want to drive up the electric bill by spending every waking moment in there! At least I can sleep comfortably. The high temperatures have made work seem a little more pleasant since the Gallery has fabulous air conditioning and humidity control to protect the artwork (and pregnant ladies - there are currently three of us).

I really have not accomplished much in the past week - all painting and redecorating projects are on hold until I can breathe a little more comfortably in my house. I have started looking into baby registries, but I still feel pretty overwhelmed by how much STUFF is out there for babies. Since my two showers will be on the early side (to make sure certain people can attend), I guess I better get on it.

We did have our second anatomy scan ultrasound and everything looked great. I was actually startled by how relaxed the baby was, but our first two ultrasounds had been later in the day, while this one was early - I guess the little guy is a late sleeper. She went into 3D mode for us to check out his adorable little face and I'll just say that I am already totally in love with my little man. He is the cutest baby I have ever seen :)

And as of Friday he is the size of a papaya!

I went searching for a papaya in the produce section the other day and I couldn't find one! I like to hold the fruit of the week just to see what I'm carrying around in there, but Wegman's let me down this time.

That's all for now... here's hoping that the temperatures drop just a little bit sometime soon!

21 weeks (+6 days)

Okay, so I didn't get around to my 21 week post nearly as soon as I had planned. I don't know where the time goes these days! Summers always seem to go by too quickly, so I'll just blame it on that. Things have also been a little crazy at work so I've been preoccupied. Anyway, I figured I'd better get around to posting tonight, since tomorrow marks 22 weeks!

We're going to our second anatomy scan ultrasound tomorrow morning - I hope this kid cooperates well enough for the tech. to see his heart better this time. I would hate to think that I already have an uncooperative child :)  Adrian's parents are also coming for a visit tomorrow and will be with us until Sunday, which will be fun. We're going to check out the Italian Festival, which I've never been to, and I look forward to eating all sorts of healthy crappy food. It takes place just down the street from our house, so I can just waddle myself home when it's done!

I am really looking forward to having the next two days off. Work has been crazy, like I said, and I haven't been sleeping very well so I'm excited to have some time to relax. Thank goodness Adrian finally installed the air conditioner in our bedroom, so I can sleep a little more easily on some of these very hot nights when the fan just doesn't cut it.

As for the little guy (whose first name we think we may have chosen), this week he's the size of a banana:

It's crazy to think that he's getting so long and nearing a full pound! It seems like only yesterday I was  hoping my little raspberry would reach banana status. Starting next week (well, tomorrow), the fruit on www.thebump.com only changes every few weeks so those updates won't be as frequent, but I will continue to post just as often. In an upcoming update I'll post some pictures of the nursery furniture we bought - just as soon as it's all assembled.

20 weeks (+5 days)

The first of July marked the day we hit 20 weeks along in my pregnancy. It's a big milestone since it means we are halfway done! Considering how quickly the first 20 weeks have gone, it seems crazy that only that much time has to pass again before we meet our son.

The little one is making me more and more aware of his presence in there, and I'm now feeling movement pretty regularly. There is truly no better feeling in the world! I was having a bad day at work today and just when I felt like I was going to lose it, he busted a move and made me feel a lot better.

I'm still feeling pretty great - I went to the doctor complaining of horrible back pain on the left side, as I was worried it was kidney-related. They did say that it might be a kidney stone, but also said it may just be normal pregnancy growing pains. It has subsided a bit (although I still feel it at some point on a daily basis), and even if it is a kidney stone, there's not much they can do about it as long as I'm pregnant. Aside from that annoying little problem, I have no complaints! I'm just happy that the baby is growing and looking forward to my next ultrasound (the extra one I get because they couldn't get a good view of the heart last time). I had to push it all the way to the 15th because their appointments were so limited, but it gives me something to look forward to!

According to http://www.thebump.com, this week the baby is the size of a cantaloupe:

And it certainly looks like it! This bump is growing at a serious pace and I think I might be the size of a house by the time we're done. My biggest concern is that my belly button is going to pop eventually, and I had really hoped to avoid that! We'll see - I'm hanging on to hope that it will remain a cute little innie.

Well, that's all for now - only two more days until we hit 21 weeks, so look for another post soon!