in bloom

week 14!! chickadee is about the size of a lemon now and could potentially be busy sucking it's thumb already!! this past week i definitely felt like i grew more than in other weeks. there was one morning where i even said to grady "i feel like i grew bigger overnight!" grady also made the comment "wow, you really look like your pregnant now!" so not only are the flowers blooming, but my bump is as well!

i'm still feeling good. definintely getting more energy back and wanting to organize the heck out of everything (guess that's the nesting starting!). ice cream is a must almost every night. a simple french vanilla bryers with chocolate syrup will do. one thing i have noticed is that my balance when squating down is definitely not what it used to be. i read that's somewhat normal since my body is shifting around. sleeping on my side still proves to be a challenge, but i did read that as long as i'm propped up and not laying flat on my back, that doing that is fine. i'm going to check with my doctor on wednesday (my next appointment) and verify that with her.

still anxious to find out what we're having. i'm not sure if they'll be able to tell on wednesday or not, but i'm going to ask. i don't know how much longer i can wait! :) i'm not good with surprises. it will also help grady and i narrow down what kinds of names we need to really think about. because yes, i have already bought a baby name book. i had a 40% off coupon at borders...couldn't resist!

second gift for chickadee

a big thank you to nanny who sent chickadee's second gift! it was such a surprise on monday to see it in the mail. i absolutely love the books! one weird thing about me is some of my favorite smells...one of the weirder ones being the smell of old books! i spent a good 5 minutes with my nose in these ones. :) the onesies are too cute too. i can't wait to get them on little chickadee. s/he is going to look so cute!

one other item included in the package from nanny was my all time favorite picture of tim and i as kids. no caption necessary for this one! :)

home sweet home

this weekend i made my first solo road trip being pregnant to grana and grandpa's house. i was a little worried at first since i had been reading to stop every hour to stretch and whatnot. i'm definitely not a "stopper" when it comes to road trips. i want to get the ride over and done with. i did stop halfway to get lunch, stretch and use the facilities. it definitely felt good! traffic was awesome though, so i made great time to grana and grandpa's and was able to enjoy most of the afternoon sitting on the deck and enjoy the nice weather.

i think we were all wondering if we were going to have a repeat performance of the last time i hung out with grana and grandpa. but to our surprise....NO! YEAH!!! i was able to eat everything as well as go on an all day shopping trip on saturday and not skip a beat! and man o man, i'm going to be on stylish momma thanks to grana and grandpa. :)

i think one of our favorite things we snagged (last of the M size too!) was this adorable bathing suit. such a steal too. it cost less than what i would normally pay for one piece of a regular tankini/bikini!! i have to admit, i was a little worried of what i was going to have to buy in the line of bathing suits, but this little number has me counting down the days for the pool to open!

even though i had friday off for my birthday, the weekend still went by way too quickly. it somehow became 11am on sunday and i had to head home. :( i had such a great time, but i have to admit...i did miss grady, mojo, stella and rudy!

glad to be home, but miss grana and grandpa!

<3

so juicy!

yummy, i love peaches and i love my little chickadee! :)

i learned somthing new today from grana as well as well. i thought i would be able to feel the baby kick on the outside in the weeks to come, but she enlightened me that i'll feel it inside first! guess you can tell i'm a first time mom. ha!

"you know when they say it feels like you have butterflies in your stomach....well it actually feels like that." hmmm, i've said that expression once or twice in my lifetime but never really felt the stress building up in my stomach. of course, now i'm obsessed with sitting still and seeing if i can feel anything in my stomach fluttering. again...you can tell i'm a first time mom!

don't think i've felt anything yet, but will definitely update when i do!

doin the bump

this marks the end of my first trimester. i'm officially 12 weeks into my pregnancy. only 28 more weeks to go! it seems like a long time, but i know it's just going to keep flying by. i think compared to other 1st trimesters i've heard about though, i've had it pretty easy. i just hope that my luck carries into the 2nd and 3rd!

i have noticed that i've had a little more energy lately and a slightly more aggressive appetite. i haven't wanted to eat more, it's just when i'm hungry...i'm HUNGRY and need to find food. :) i'm still craving fruit and ice cream and still waking up around 2am every morning. oh, i guess another thing i'm always in the mood for these days are frosted mini wheats. i love them!

one thing i've been trying to work on recently is sleeping on my side. i'm definitely a back sleeper and it's really hard for me to sleep on my side all night. i think i'm going to have to put a pillow behind my back so i don't roll over completely onto my back. if any moms out there have any additional ideas i'm all ears!

well...here it is. the bump at 12 weeks.

farewell 1st trimester

11 weeks and 6 days...1 day before the end of my first trimester. i really can't believe it. i know i keep saying it, but time really is flying by. i went into the radiology lab today to get my nuchal translucency screening done. unfortunately grady wasn't able to make this visit either, but luckily they sent me home with a cd full of pictures!! and they weren't able to tell what we were having, so i was happy about that because i want it to be revealed to grady and i at the same time. i'm hoping at our next doctors visit, may 5th, that they'll be able to tell us something?!

the ultrasound went really well though. the doctor said everything looked great and to keep up the good work! :) and man o man do i have an active one!! chickadee was tossing and turning and flipping all around. it's really weird because you can see it moving all over the place on the screen, but it's weird to not feel anything yet. i can't wait until i can! and apparently i may have drank too much water and had to relieve myself so that the baby would hopefully stop moving so much and the ultrasound tech could get better shots of everything necessary to document.

out of the 20 pictures they sent me home with, here are a few that i LOVE looking at.


chickadee is nice and cozy in there! and a whopping 5.92 cm i might add. already at a size of 12 weeks and 3 days. grow baby grow!

you can actually see facial features now. here you can see the nose, eyes, chin and they very important tummy!

you can't see much of the baby in this shot, but this is chickadee's heartbeat. much faster than at 6 weeks. a strong 176 bpm.

even though they're teeny tiny, look at those little arms and hands! i can't wait to have them holding my fingers! this was the hardest thing to capture since chickadee wouldn't put it's hands down almost the entire time.

and i had no clue they had one of the ge 3d ultrasound machines at the radiology office. of course chickadee had to cross it's legs for us and not let me have a peak at anything!!! and note the hands at the face again!

yeah for two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet!! :) you can even see the earbuds in this shot. and i don't know what it is, but i fixate on that cute little baby belly. i love it and can't wait to kiss it!!

11 weeks

almost done with the first trimester! i'm already getting some energy back and not falling asleep by 8:30pm! sickness has still stayed at bay, which i'm VERY happy about. chickadee is definitely growing like crazy and i feel like i'm showing a little bit more. i can tell more so on my sides. they're getting a little thicker. so i present to you the bump at 11 weeks!

pucker up!

11 weeks!! it's crazy how fast the weeks keep going by. this week our chickadee is the size of a lime!!

both grady and i went to my doctor's appointment yesterday and everything went great.

i've lost 2 pounds (nothing to worry about right now)
blood pressure readings were good
protein absorption test came back fine

and even though we didn't get an ultrasound this time (kind of bummed because i was hoping grady would get to see the baby).......we did both get a pleasant surprise. the doctor took the doppler out and prefaced it with "we'll see if we get lucky!"

we were lucky alright. and we have HEARTBEAT!!! it was the coolest thing i've ever heard. and it's weird because when were at the appointment i wasn't choked up at all, but somehow writing about it now, i'm getting choked up! :)

stay tuned for future bump shots!

prenatal pilates

i have my friend dawn to thank for letting me know about the awesome prenatal pilates class she's been taking for the past 10 weeks. a new session has started and i made sure to sign up for it (after i got the ok from my doctor!!)! so every friday from 6:30-7:30pm i get some quality bonding time with little chickadee and other mom's to be. it's really great! and then after class dawn, mary and i head over to wegman's for dinner yummy!! i think i'm going to like this new friday ritual.

i can definitely see how these classes are going to help me tone, stretch and strengthen specific birthing muscles too. i've only been to one class and i can already feel it this morning! and i don't know if i was just trying to calm myself down before the class or what, but for some reason my blood pressure has gone from the 130's/90's to the 120's/90!! YEAH!! :) so i'm going to try really hard to focus my breathing more all the time and do my at home exercises. i want my chickadee to grow grow grow and not have my blood pressure slow it down!

here's to staying cool and relaxed chickadee*

daily fiber intake

we've hit the 10 week mark!! i can't believe it! i think we get more and more excited everyday about how much our little chickadee is growing. even when i show grady the pictures from my books he doesn't get freaked out anymore haha! and we've been so lucky to be showered with congratulations and best wishes lately. so thank you to all of our family, friends and even neighbors! you're all the best!

so i'm still a huge fan of thebump.com's size comparisons. this week our baby is the size of a........

no, not a raisin......a prune! :) yeah fiber!

i don't think i've gotten much bigger in the bump area, but my clothes are definitely starting to fit differently. i've become a HUGE fan of yoga pants and a comfy men's tanktop (i'm not going to call it by it's real name!).

some other things i've noticed:

i'm not too fond of red meat these days

i'm still pretty tired

i wake up around 3am every morning to pee

i can't get enough chocolate!

i sleep A LOT better now with my boppy body pillow!

my hair is AWESOME (thicker and always does what i want it to do!)

same goes for my nails. they've been stronger and getting much longer, faster!

haven't had any cravings yet, but i'm always in the mood for fruit

no morning sickness!!!