20 weeks!

How Far Along: 20 weeks

Size of baby: Large banana (11oz, 6.5 inches)
 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +17 lbs total
 

Maternity Clothes: Pants, yes. Tops, some. The pants are just way more comfortable.

Gender: All boy!  So excited to finally know!

Movement: Some thumps and flutters. It's getting more regular.  He's definitely more active in the afternoon.

Sleep: It's getting harder and harder to get comfortable.  I was hoping this wouldn't happen until later.

What I miss: Eating anything without getting indigestion. Still miss my old clothes.

Cravings: None really this week.  I bought a bag of clementines Saturday and I've been enjoying them.

Symptoms: Indigestion.

Best Moment this week:  Seeing the baby on the ultrasound.  I loved seeing him move.  Finding out the gender.  Starting our registry.  I was so overwhelmed in Buy Buy Baby.  We barely made a dent in the things we need to register for but we got most of the big things out of the way.  I also bought a few things for him this week.  I can't wait till they get here.

I can't believe we are 20 weeks.  It seems like it's flying by.  I've been saying all along if I can get to this point the last half will {hopefully} fly by.  The fall always seems to be over in a flash followed by the holidays.  This week starts football season which means there will be games to watch everyweek until the baby gets here!

Boy or Girl?

Yesterday we had our 19 week ultrasound.  I loved getting to see "baby H"!  I was a little nervous going in but it quickly went away.  The tech did all the measurments for the doctor first then she turned the screen so we could see.  I was so excited to see the sweet babe just hanging out. 

We were also excited to find out our baby is a sweet baby

BOY!!!

he gave us a "thumbs up" then started sucking his thumb it was so cute and so neat to get see.  I felt like it was a boy the whole time but in the last few weeks Patrick and I both had dreams it was a girl.  So I wasn't convinced either way going in this morning!  My parents were shocked..they both just knew it was a girl. 

Patrick and I both took a vacation day and started our registry and got a sweet little gown for the little man.  My boss is crazy...I wanted to tell my parents before we told anyone else...we'll he just couldn't stand it so he started searching for a registry.  He found the one thing we registered for that was gender specific.

Care to guess what it was...

it was coathangers, blue coathangers!

He was pretty proud of himself!  My sister admitted that she'd looked for a registry but didn't find one.  I don't think she really wanted to find out that way.

We had lunch with my dad and then took lunch to my mom's work.  Last night we celebrated Patrick's brithday with his family.  They were all so excited to find out.  All the kids wanted it to be a boy.  Now it will be even 3 boys, 3 girls. 

All in all it was a great day.  One that I'm sure I'll remember forever. 

Baby BOY H's first gown!  I can't wait to snuggle him in it!

Just some random feelings...

It's the night before our big anatomy scan/gender ultrasound.  I am filled with emotion.  I am so excited to be able to say he or she and know for {almost} sure.  I'm also so nervous.  I don't really know why.  I'm not worried really if something is wrong, if it is we will get through it.  I can't believe I'm almost half way to the end.  We really don't care if it's a boy or a girl.  I go back and forth almost daily.  I thought for sure Patrick would want a son but he says he really doesn't care.  We've both taken the day off and we're going to spend it together shopping and registering.  I don't know how far we'll get in that process, it all seems a little overwhelming to me.  We have decided on the big items like car seats and such.  I just can't decide how much of it is stuff you really need or not. 

Overall being pregnant has already been such an amazing experience.  I've been feeling the baby more and more.  I already love this baby so much.  It's also so exciting to me that some many people that are close to me are so happy for us.  It really makes you realize how much people really care. 

I'm sure I won't be able to sleep tonight. It feels like Christmas Eve and I'm waiting on Santa.

19 weeks

How Far Along: 19 weeks

Size of baby: Large mango (8oz, 6 inches)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +11lbs total

Maternity Clothes: Pants, yes. Tops, some. The pants are just way more comfortable.

Gender: We find out Thursday and I can't wait!

Movement: Still just little flutters that I'm not even completely positive are the baby. I'm pretty that's what it is.  I can't wait till its more consistent.

Sleep: Not bad, just wish I could get more of it.

What I miss:  Eating anything without getting indigestion.  Still miss my old clothes.

Cravings: I've been craving turkey or chicken and dressing for about 2 weeks now.  I finally got some last night at Cracker Barrel.

Symptoms: Indigestion.

Best Moment this week: We are finding out the gender.  I can't wait to see the baby on the ultrasound.  Last time it was just a little blob now it's going to look like a baby!  Our hardwood floors were put down we were very excited about that!

18 Weeks

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: Large mango (8oz, 6 inches)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +11lbs total

Maternity Clothes: Pants, yes. Tops, some. The pants are just way more comfortable.

Gender: We find out August 23rd and I can't wait!

Movement: I was laying down last night and felt little flutters.  I actually felt it several times so maybe it was the baby.

Sleep: I've slept better this week.

What I miss: Sleeping all night. Being able wear anything I pull out of my closet.

Cravings: I had a random craving apple juice yesterday, we were in the car and it was like we had to stop right then and get apple juice.  Patrick thought I was a little crazy.

Symptoms: Some headaches.  I've been really emotional.  Patrick was showing me a video ( here's a link)of a walk on player from Vandy getting offered a full scholarship and I was crying like a baby.  Patrick just laughed.

Best Moment this week: I went to the lake for the day Saturday and took our big dogs.  They had a blast.  It was worth all the work it took to get them there.  My little brother asked me if I felt like I was drowning the baby when I was swimming in the lake. For the record, it didn't.  One week closer to finding out what this sweet baby is!

17 Weeks

(I've got to relearn how to use the self timer on my real camera, these pictures are terrible!)

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: Sweet Potato (5oz, 5.5 inches)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +11lbs total

Maternity Clothes: Pants, yes. Tops, no. The pants are just way more comfortable.

Gender: We find out August 23rd and I can't wait! I had a dream this week that it was a girl.  We were at the ultrasound and the tech said "It's a girl!", it was so vivid.

Movement: I felt something the other day that I thought could be a kick, it felt like someone thumped me from the inside.  I've felt this a couple more random times.  It always surprises me I'm guessing it is the baby.

Sleep: I've slept better this week.

What I miss: Sleeping all night. Being able wear anything I pull out of my closet.

Cravings: This week I've craved salad peppers and vegetable soup.  I guess I'm not getting enough vegetables.

Symptoms: Some round ligament pain, that made me terrified for labor.

Best Moment this week:  I've chosen a paint color and bedding.  I think I've decided on a crib, now just need to get it all ordered.  We're getting hardwood floors in our living room, foyer and the stairs going to our basement room (we'll only have carpet in the bedrooms and I'm so excited).  Lorie came over with Ellie to watch gymnastics last week and I loved seeing Ellie and Ally interact.  I think Ally is going to be a great big sister if she can get over the initial shock of not being the center of attention anymore.

16 weeks

I feel like I look bigger in this picture than I do in real life.  I might be in denial though.

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Size of baby: Avacado

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +11lbs total

Maternity Clothes: Pants, yes. Tops, no. The pants are just way more comfortable.  I did try to wear a dress to church Sunday that wouldn't zip. Kind of a bummer.

Gender: We find out August 23rd and I can't wait!

Movement: I felt something the other day that I thought could be a kick, it felt like someone thumped me from the inside but I haven't felt it since so who knows!

Sleep: Sleep has not been great this week.  I've been ramdomly waking up at 2:30 or 3:30 and not able to go back to sleep.

What I miss: Sleeping all night.  Being able wear anything I pull out of my closet.

Cravings: Nothing really.

Symptoms: Not sleeping is really it.

Best Moment this week:  The baby's room is competely cleaned out.  I've narrowed the paint choices down.  Having a date to find out the gender.

The Summer Games

Long post, no pictures.

I love the Olympics. I credit (or blame) my parents.  I always assumed that everyone had this undeniable love for the games.  In the three days since the games opened I realized, I'm wrong.  I unknowingly married an Olympic scrooge. (He's slowly coming around, but those weeks leading up were brutal.)

Let me go back to my childhood.  Growing up we had one tv (unless you count the one in my brother's room that we weren't allowed to watch unless my older brother was gone), so we were forced to watch whatever my parents watched.  I grew up watching ER, Law & Order, Melrose Place, Wheel of Fortune, the news and football.  Every four years when the Olympics rolled around we would watch the games and cheer for Team USA.  The first games I really remember watching and really grasping the magnitude of the event was 1996.  The games were in Atlanta, a mere two hours from us.  I was 11 and in the height of my short lived gymnastics career.  (Turns out going backward on the beam is really scary and I'm a bit of a coward.)  I remember being glued to the tv during the team all around finals with my sister ( and the rest of America).  My parents were out that night and I can't remember who was staying with us, that part isn't really important.  We watched Shannon Miller on the beam, I was convinced if I had a leotard from her line I too would be an olympian. It all came down to the vault.  I think you all know how this ends, the point of this story is to tell you that my parents came home after the competition had ended but they hadn't announced the winner yet so we were still in limbo.  They came in the door chanting U-S-A because they'd heard on the radio we'd won.  (Atlanta was an hour ahead of us.) I remember being so mad that they ruined it.  Fast Forward 16 years, social media is trying to ruin the olympics for me.  I'm trying to avoid any news sources that will spoil the events I'm really looking forward to.  It's hard though. I saw a headline yesterday that read something like "Surprise shake up in women's all around"  I wouldn't read the article because I didn't want to spoil it but the rest of the afternoon my stomach was in knots because I was afraid that little Gabby Douglas didn't make it.  Then while I was watching it last night and she practically ran out of bounds I was nearly sick.

My sister any I were looking forward to the 2008 games in Beijing.  She was home and we'd planned to eat Chinese food and watch the opening ceremonies together.  Well something came up and to make a long story short I ended up going to see about a puppy.  I brought her home that night, you might know her as Ally.  Well I'd set my DVR to record the opening ceremonies so we could take Ally to visit some people.  We get home and her settled to watch and everything is going well until the recording cuts off at 3 hours and we missed the torch being lit.  I'm pretty sure my sister still holds this against me.

***It has been brought to my attention that I ruined not one but two opening ceremonies for my sister.  Beijing was before we got our DVR so I think I convinced my sister that we'd be home in time for the ceremonies and we weren't.  In an attempt to make up for the Beijing snafu, I proudly recorded the Vancover opening ceremonies so that my sister and I could enjoy in without commercial interruption and the DVR cut off before the torch was lit. So essentially, my sister will never trust me with her olympic opening ceremony viewing ever again***

This year I missed the opening ceremonies.  I was sad about it but I quickly picked up Saturday morning with the olympic coverage.  (this is when I realized the twitter was going to make or break the olympics for me this year).  Sunday afternoon I went to church and then to my parents house for lunch the kids had stayed with them all weekend.  When I came in I asked what was showing in the olypmic coverage and Drew, the oldest, was like please don't make us watch any more olympics.  I'm not going to lie I felt a little pang in my heart.  My parents had made him sit and watch the opening ceremonies, he was not impressed.  As I watched water polo and beach volleyball, I was reminded of my childhood.  My parents love anything competitive.  If someone can lose they'll watch it.  We were cheering for water polo like it was the Iron Bowl.
This week will be my favorite week of competition with gymnastics and swimming but I've grown to love other events too.  The main excitement for me is to have a whole country cheering for the same team.  I love team USA, red white & blue and stars and stripes.  It's like the 4th of July for 2 weeks!

*I started this post three days ago but I'm going to add my opinions about this weeks competition so far*

So, I thought my parents ruining the news for me in 1996 was bad.  At least they'd finished competing.  Yesterday , twitter spoiled it for me around lunch time.  I was so disappointed.  But I quickly realized going into round one that it didn't make me any less nervous to watch the routines knowing they won.  Could those girls have been any more on?  I mean they nailed those vaults.  Kayla Ross made tumbling on the beam look like a piece of cake.  I loved the smiles and expressions of relief of the girls faces as they checked off each tumbling pass of their floor routines.  I loved seeing the parents reactions in the stands.  Can you even imagine the thoughts going through their heads?  Then while doing a little math in my head I realized that they too were in diapers or not even born yet with the Magnificent 7 won gold in Atlanta. Sigh.  Like any other girl that ever walked across a balance beam I was crushed that I'd quit gymnastics, I mean I could have been an olympian.  Did anyone else notice the 24 year old from Romania?  She looked like a senior citizen next to some of these kids.

I'm taking break from the olympic coverage tonight.  I haven't been sleeping well and I think all the excitment of the games has something to do with it.