25 weeks

 Today : 25 weeks 6 days

Weight Gain :  13 lbs. I’m not exactly sure when my belly surpassed my boobs, but that’s a thing now… and not just in an “oops,  I just ate a burrito” kind of way… more like in a strangers can actually tell I’m pregnant now way.

Maternity Clothes : Obviously. 

 Most of my non-pregnancy shirts look like this. I'm one Natty light can away from fitting in at a Nascar race. 

Stretch marks : No way.

Sleep : Yes please.  Usually sleeping really well, but Samson still loves to practice his ninja skills at 3 am.

Sickness: No, but acid reflux is a more regular occurrence. Gross.

Movement: My belly is moving more and more. Samson’s getting big enough to make my belly lopsided periodically, which is hilarious.

Cravings: The usual… for the love of Dr. Pepper. Also, we had pizza twice this week… I don’t know how it happened, but it did and I’m not complaining.

Exciting happenings: Went to a WET wedding, saw a beautiful bride (Congrats Alyssa & Shayne!), and spent some quality time with my brother Michael, his wife Ashley and their two beautiful daughters, Annalyn & Emelina. 

Annalyn! I sure hope Samson is this cute!

 

My new "mom" glasses... for the future when I don't have time to shower or put on makeup.

I also got new glasses and highlights/lowlights. Aaron took a day off, so we got to spend some time together. I got to spend time with my sister-in-law Ravelle and mom.  Did some crafting with my dear friend Kali and made a hippie-esque dream catcher, which will most likely find it's way to Samson's room. We saw our best friends James & Jenny and their perfect little girl Gemma. Samson and Gemma are bound to be best friends and they might get married someday, who knows.

I went rogue with this... I can't decide if I need to rearrange the feathers. #hippiehomedecor

This week was so busy and so much fun! I need to stop procrastinating my blog until the end of the week, so I can include more fun details. 

Additionally, Samson got SPOILED this week. You know who you are! You guys are way too good to him (and us!) We love you!

24 weeks

Today : 24 weeks 5 days

Weight Gain : 11.5 lbs

Maternity Clothes : It's a pretty good mix at this point. I'm still small enough to fit in to most of my own shirts, but big enough to fit in to some maternity shirts. The maternity jeans have been doing me a solid for a few weeks now, but I still wear my own yoga pants and sweats. 

Stretch marks : Nope

Sleep : Sleeping more normally since I gave up on the extra pillows, although if Samson is awake, it's only a matter of time before I join the party. 

Sickness : Nada

Movement : Yep, every day. Samson seems to have a fairly consistent sleeping/awake pattern and certain times of day (or night, if you read my last post) seem to be when he is most active. A few days ago I made a video of my stomach moving, I can't imagine how much crazier it is going to look as he gets bigger. Maybe I'm just easily entertained, but I love to poke my belly and watch him kick back. 

Cash pretends he doesn't like sprinkle donut Mondays.

Cravings : My diet is fairly balanced and I try to be very conscious of making healthy choices when it comes to my food most of the time. I definitely notice myself splurging more often than normal, but I really am ok with that. To me that means I'm drinking a Dr. Pepper every few days, having a donut or two once a week, and having treats occasionally that I wouldn't normally have.  I'm still eating lean meat, vegetables, fruit and all the good stuff. I'm not craving anything crazy or doing anything nuts like eating an entire package of Oreos... for now.

How cute is this little girl? Good grief.

Exciting happenings : 24 weeks is the age of viability! It's also the beginning of our 6th month of pregnancy... 4 more months to go!  Aaron traveled for work this week and I got to tag along for the ride. We ended up spending some time with my cousin Elizabeth, her husband Ryan and their little girl Reese. We always have such a good time with them and it's really exciting to think soon enough Samson will be able to join in on the fun! 

Samson also got some fun stuff this week and Cash was nice enough to model them for everyone. Thanks Kami & E! 

Cash heard these were for "the baby," hope he doesn't take it too hard in January...

Oh Cantaloupe, My Cantaloupe

It's about 5:30 am and I have been awake for two hours because somebody, not naming names, thought 3 am is a perfectly legitimate time to wake his momma up with some tummy gymnastics. (In my sleepless stupor, I thought it was funny to reference a Walt Whitman poem, so forgive me when I wake up later and realize it was much less clever than I had anticipated). While sleep is so precious to me, so is this sweet little boy and I try to soak up the time we get to spend together, just him & I, before he makes his big debut in a few months. His kicks are small enough still that they don't do too much damage and I feel so blessed to be able to feel his reminders that he is really here, a tiny little human, hanging out in my belly.

At 24 weeks, Samson is about the length of a cantaloupe or an ear of corn, depending on what app you look at. (One of these apps uses the cantaloupe at 34 weeks & another claims a coconut is bigger, so take this with a grain of salt.) The food sized visuals always blow me away, because even though I feel so much bigger than my normal self, I don't feel over abundantly pregnant-sized... And an ear of corn is long guys. He's a month past half baked & has grown from the size of a poppy seed to the size of one of the real, living babies I see in the NICU at work. Blows my mind. 

It will always be so miraculous to me that something (read someone) that was just a dream of Aaron & I's a few short months ago is coming to fruition. What is a greater miracle still, is that this is all God's plan. He saw our lives and Samson's life and knew that they were meant to be twined together. I hope I can remember that in 1 year, in 16 years, etc... When motherhood and this little boy test my every ounce of patience.

This morning I am feeling so thankful for my sweet son, who is fearfully and wonderfully made.

23 weeks

Today : 23 weeks 5 days

Weight Gain : 10 lbs ... in the morning, before breakfast ... and clothes. Who knows what the scale might say after a donut or two though...

Maternity Clothes : My normal shirts can still stretch over my belly but, holy guacamole no way am I fitting into my skinny jeans anymore. Why am I not one of those blessed women who starts to grow a basketball under my shirt and nothing else? My hips and butt may never, ever be the same.

Cash is tired of hearing about my pregnancy butt.

Stretch marks : Nope

Sleep : Not as easy as it used to be! It has definitely helped to have the cooler weather at night though, I love the cool, crisp air of fall. 

Sickness : Nope

Movement : Yep. Strongest kick yet happened this week following a bowl of ice cream.. Aaron saw it from the other side of the couch. I have a feeling that Samson's going to be one strong little boy!

Cravings : My doctor was totally cool with my obsession with Dr. Pepper, so that's awesome. No crazy urges this week, but I've partaken in iced coffee from Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts.  We also tried a new recipe for Browned Butter Snickerdoodles.  Side note: if you aren't browning your butter before you bake, you are missing out. I learned this trick the year we got married. It changes everything and is totally worth your time. 

Black coffee with pumpkin spice syrup from Starbucks. And Camo. Hello Fall!

Exciting happenings : Everything is measuring right on track and looking good according to my doctor.   My mom and I tried out some gliders at a local furniture store and then Aaron & I tried out a few more at Babies R Us a few days later. Still haven't picked one... it seems like such a big decision! Super crazy to imagine rocking our baby in one of them in a few months. 

22 weeks

Today : 22 weeks 4 days

Weight Gain :  10 lbs. Whoa, baby, double digits! I blame the Dr Pepper.

Maternity Clothes : My shirts are still the same. But, thank goodness for stretchy pants!

Stretch marks : Nope

Sleep : According to Aaron “Your back pillows have become my back pillows.” Sleep comes with extra pillows. Cash thinks this is us finally accommodating his needs.

Sickness : Nada

Movement : Oh yeah! Both Aaron & I are feeling a lot more kicks and rolls.  This baby likes dance parties while mommy is driving. He also seems to be just as excited as we are for football season & was kicking all night long during the USF Cougars season opener. I think we’ll get along juuuuust fine.

Cravings : We ate Taco Bell for the first time in years this week, just because. I’m not sure that counts, but it’s definitely not something I would have usually been down with.

Also, I’m blaming that 10 lb weight gain on that Dr Pepper craving that seems to be lingering. Hoping to make my doctor happy by switching to an occasional 12 oz can of Dr Pepper vs the almost-every-day 32 oz fountain pop I was sucking down.  My hips don’t lie.

Exciting happenings : Nursery is painted! The color is called Mint Whisper, in person it is definitely on the blue side of the mint family. I love it! As far as a theme goes, we don't really have one. It's kind of a mash-up of various things to make up a style. I'm hoping to do a post soon about the big picture, but here's a little preview just because I'm so excited about it ;)

Teepee  //  Wall Color  //  White Moose Taxidermy  //  Mountain Print

Post Labor Day Ramblings

 Happy Wednesday!

Hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. I obviously took an extra day to recover. The weekend itself was the same old for us, I worked and Aaron led worship at church. Monday was a work holiday for him (lucky) and I had to work 2^nd shift at the hospital. We made the best of it though. Aaron woke up early and made us a pancake breakfast, yum! While eating our pancakes, we schemed of ways to take advantage of my dad’s FANTASTIC waffle breakfasts for 12 weeks straight when I’m on maternity leave. 

Aaron & I have been back and forth since we bought our house on when to buy a new washer and dryer. A series of unfortunate laundry events recently took place and helped us solidify our decision.  We had already shopped around so we knew what we wanted and what we expected to pay. We went to Lowe's and took advantage of the Labor Day sales and saved a bundle on our new washer and dryer. They are a special order, so we have to wait a while before they will arrive, but I am so excited to have pulled the trigger. I have big dreams for our laundry room my friends.  **Update: the washer/dryer links work when using a desktop, but don't seem to work from all mobile devices. If you are really curious, we got a Samsung 5 cu. feet high efficiency washer and a Samsung 7.4 cu feet high efficiency electric dryer with steam cycles.**

Thanks to Aaron the nursery is primed and ready to be painted tonight!  I have been staring at an empty room for 5 months and am so excited about all the things that will be going in the nursery (mostly the little dude himself).  Even though, yes, they are just things, I think some tangible objects just might help me wrap my mind around the fact that soon enough our house will be home to one more person.  Hopefully after seeing the room painted I'll be able to make some of my ideas come to life. 

(Dear future second child, sorry in advance that you're nursery will probably never receive this much attention, but I have a lot more time on my hands now... I promise I'll love you the same ;))

Cash and his post holiday blues...