29 weeks (+5 days)

I'll start by saying that I am SO excited about this cooler weather! It's starting to feel like fall (my favorite season) so now I can really start looking forward to my 26th birthday, Thanksgiving, and the birth of our son! I'm not going to lie - I will be bummed if being in the hospital interferes with celebrating Thanksgiving on the actual holiday, so I am just hoping little man decides to arrive on schedule. I hate it when people are late!

I am excited for Friday because being able to say that I am 30 weeks pregnant makes it seem so much closer. Each passing week makes me more anxious - I just want to hold him! Having ten weeks to go sometimes sounds like a lot, but I know that it's going to fly by - especially since there is so much to do! I'm glad now that we've held off on the nursery for so long because it gives me something to do and think about while I wait. Hopefully we'll be painting this week and then we can finally get the crib assembled and start decorating.

In other house news, we have a total kitchen overhaul scheduled to start at the beginning of October. It's pretty much going to be happening until I deliver, so that will be interesting. New ceiling (no more drop ceiling - hooray!), new cabinets, new countertops, new lighting, more work space... what more could I ask for? It will be so great to have a nice kitchen for our family to spend time in (it is pretty awful in its current form) - I will try to remember to post before and after photos when it is all done!

Maybe I will finally feel more motivated to cook things like...

squash! I have no clue what kind of squash that is, to be honest. It's just exciting to have an update in the fruit department :)

Although we seem to be100% sure about the baby's name, we have decided not to announce it until he's born. A few family members know, but we wanted there to be a little element of surprise for his debut. I LOVE the name we picked out - I think it will fit perfectly with our little family.

That's all for now!



28 weeks (+4 days)

28 weeks! And quickly approaching 29! Sometimes I can't understand where the time is going, but then at other times I can't help but wish it would just go even faster because I am so anxious to meet our baby. However, I'm really trying to enjoy every moment of the pregnancy, because I know I'll miss this special private time with my son :) It is still so amazing to feel every kick and poke from inside - sometimes I just can't believe it's really happening.

The movement lately has just been incredible! Early in the day he likes to hang out and poke me in the ribs, and it can be a little uncomfortable, but he moves down later in the evening and I usually feel his kicks (and rolls and punches) in the same place every night. Adrian loves feeling him move and those are probably my favorite moments right now - when our whole little family is connected.

We love to imagine what he's going to be like. Who will he look like? Will he eventually pick up our habit to make up stupid songs about anything and everything? We're pretty sure he'll get in trouble at school for having a sassy mouth since we both do :) Sometimes I'm still just blown away by the entire concept of it all - that we created this life together and are now responsible for shaping him into a respectable human being. Still, I think we'll be great parents - I really haven't worried about that.

I was fortunate to have my first baby shower on Saturday and it was just lovely. The baby got lots of great presents! We received the bedding we registered for and my mom and I went to Home Depot to compare it to paint colors - we picked one I think will look great in the nursery and the colors we're going with are completely neutral and usable for our next baby, so that's a plus. I will post one picture of me from the day of the shower, but don't get used to it - I'm a little shocked that I'm posting ANY pictures of my pregnant self!

By the way, this mama does NOT have gestational diabetes! Went to the doctor yesterday and everything is perfect with both me and the baby!

27 weeks (+5 days)

Oh, what's up, third trimester?

I should probably just stop commenting on how quickly the time is passing, but it is truly remarkable! It seems like just moments ago I was excited to be at 99 days (from our due date) and now we're two weeks past that milestone! I am excited to be in the third trimester and just so anxious to meet my little man.

I've been feeling more and more pregnant, that's for sure. We went to the county fair recently and I needed Adrian to help me tie my shoes because it can be so uncomfortable to bend over my ever-growing belly. I've been wearing sandals for months so I didn't realize that was going to be a problem! Add that little situation to the fact that I pretty much have to roll out of bed and I'm feeling a little... fat. I know, I know - I'm growing a human inside of me, but it has been a serious trip to watch my body transform. I was pretty thin before I got pregnant and now I'm dreading what my post-pregnancy body will look like!

I went shopping for little one last night and am so hoping he will be here in time for Thanksgiving because I bought him the cutest outfit for the holiday (and scoped out insanely cute Christmas outfits as well). I'm keeping the tags on in case we're too late for him to wear it, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed :)

So much to do, so little time... have to get my butt into childbirth classes! Have to get the nursery finished started. Have to go to the doctor every two weeks. Unfortunately, I have my glucose testing on Friday - let's hope for no gestational diabetes! I wouldn't be too surprised to find out I do have it though with as much weight as I've gained. I honestly can't see where the weight is going (I'm not as huge as I make it seem), but it's there!

One thing I can definitely look forward to is my baby shower on Saturday - the first of two. It will be nice to spend time with family and friends to celebrate our little boy. I'm really looking forward to my shower in Ohio next month, too!

 I'm having second thoughts about the 3D/4D ultrasound since I feel like my money could be better spent on necessities for the babe. We've also been blessed with some wonderful 3D/4D shots from our previous ultrasounds, so it's not like I haven't seen his precious face. If I skip it now, I'll just be that much more surprised by how adorable he is when he's born!

I'm going to wrap up this post... and I apologize for the two week span between posts, but things are just sort of rolling along without much to report lately. I have a feeling that things will start picking up in the next few weeks, so hopefully I'll be back to at least regular weekly updates. And those of you lurking on my blog without being official followers (and I know there are several of you!) should just "follow" me... because it makes me feel special :) 

28 weeks on Friday!

25 Weeks (+6 days)

We reached an exciting milestone today! It is officially 99 days until our due date, and I am thrilled to be down to double digits! Time has gone by so quickly from the beginning and I hope it keeps going just as fast because I am getting so excited to meet our little man :)

I finally got registries set up at Babies R Us and Target, which felt like a major accomplishment because for some reason it felt so much more overwhelming than our wedding registry. Probably because I've never had a baby and don't really know what I need. I really don't want our house to become a total kid zone with lots of unnecessary stuff sitting around so I tried to keep that in mind.

I guess I should probably get around to the nursery one of these days... it has finally cooled off a little bit, so it doesn't seem like such a daunting task anymore. The biggest problem now is that I am so indecisive about every little thing - I don't think I've ever been so confused about paint colors, rugs, furniture, etc. Still, I'm confident that it will turn out great, mostly because my mom is helping me :) She's great at matching fabrics, picking paint colors, and most of all, SEWING! I'm thrilled that there will be handmade touches throughout the nursery.

Oh, and finally there is a new update to the baby's "fruit size":

It's pretty crazy to start thinking about the baby in terms of pounds rather than ounces, but it's also very exciting. It seems so hard to believe that we're approaching the third trimester!

His movement in there has been so much more consistent these days and I love being able to share it with Adrian. He can feel the baby and has also had a couple opportunities to SEE the movement, which is so much fun. Sometimes my belly moves like crazy like he's just trying to bust out of there! I loved watching Adrian's reaction the first time I told him to watch my belly for a minute and the baby just pushed it all over the place. It has truly been such a great bonding experience for us as we marvel at the fact that we're bringing this little life into the world together.

Tomorrow will actually be 26 weeks, so there will be another post soon :)

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.