24 week update

Total weight gain/loss: at my last appointment I was still -2 lbs from my 1st appointment weight...I'm gonna guess I've gained those 2 lbs though because I'm FINALLY getting a somewhat "pregnant appetite" :)

Maternity clothes? pants - always....shirts - occasionally

Stretch marks? I'm proud to say...ZERO!!! wooohoooo!! Now, lets all pray and hope it stays that way!!

Sleep: It's been much better lately. Even though I wake up about 3 times a night to pee, I usually fall back to sleep pretty quick.

Best moment this week: all the kicks we're finally getting to feel from the outside!! i love getting to share the feeling of her moving with Kevin now!

Movement: LOADS! one day she'll move non-stop then the next day I guess she has to "rest and recover" because she'll move around about 1/3 as much!

Food cravings: ...nothing really. i'm still all about the cold stuff (icees, ice cream, etc) but i don't really CRAVE them.

Gender: GIRL!!!! :) :) :)

Labor Signs: not a one...and lets hope it stays that way for at least 14 more weeks!

Belly Button in or out? in, but it's not as "deep" as before. haha.

Wedding rings on or off? still on! :) i've been lucky so far and i've experienced ZERO swelling! yippee!

What I miss: don't make me type it...it's those drinks...with salt around the rim...best when paired with mexican food...*sigh* ((and no this DOESN'T make me an alcoholic. eff off.))

What I am looking forward to: getting the room ready! we're starting this weekend!!! :)

Weekly Wisdom: I've learned ALOT over the past 24 weeks...so we'll save that for another blog entry!

Milestones: Kevin finally feeling her move for the first time! :)

((23 weeks 1 day))

Mommy Blogs Galore...

I've discovered, and fell in love with Mommy Blogs...seriously, the women who write these blogs are ah-ma-zing (not to mention hilarious!)

I've always been a fan of Mrs Foreste's blog. She's so cute and fun, always has great posts, and her daughter Gianna is soooo adorable. (Not to mention she's all about bows in the hair...my inspiration!)
A few other favorites of mine are...
Heir to Blair
Deal Wise Mommy
The Southern Belle Baby

There are so many other great blogs on here. Not just in the top 25 but all of them are envy worthy...soooo, go take a look!

**and because you love me, click on the mommy blog link on the right side of this page and vote for me! :)**

my other half

So, I've realized that I've covered a lot of topics on this blog but I've yet to mention one of the most important...the wonderful man our little girl will call 'Daddy'.

Kevin and I have been together for 5 1/2 years and married for almost 2. I can honestly say that I didn't know the true meaning of happy until the day Kevin walked into my life. After our first date I knew something was different about him, but I can't honestly say I thought "This is the man I'll marry and start a family with"...that didn't come for a couple months. :) Regardless, once I felt it, there was no turning back. I was 200% in love with this man.

Our relationship isn't perfect and I'll be the first to admit that, but it's perfect for us. Yes we argue and yes we get on each others nerves but I couldn't imagine (nor do I want to imagine) my life without him.

Elaina is a lucky little girl. Even though I don't want to admit it to Kevin, I'm almost convinced she'll be a daddy's girl. Darn it. ;) How could she not be though? He is so far in love with her it's crazy. Every single day he says "I can't wait to meet our little girl" and everytime it melts my heart. Already I can sense a connection between him and Elaina. Just last week she decided to not move in the evening until her daddy got home and started talking to her...then she'd start dancing and kicking like crazy. While it made me a tiny bit jealous (I'll admit it!) I couldn't be too upset because Kevin beamed when I told him what she was doing. She's in love with him just as much as I am.

Well...I hope that wasn't too much sap, goo and lovey-dovey for ya...if so, I promise to mention farts or something next time to cancel it out! :P

it's a GIRL and i'm a bad blogger...

The bad news first...I'm a horrible blogger. :( I'm slapping myself on the wrist now *slap*...and I promise to never skip out on updates for this long again!

NOW, onto the good news...IT'S A GIRL!!!! :) That's right, Kevin & I have a little princess on the way and to say we're ecstatic is an understatement! The ultrasound went great and baby G was more than happy to show us what she has (or should I say doesn't have?).
Kevin's mom and my mom both went with us to the ultrasound so they heard the good news the same time we did. I don't know which one squealed the loudest, but I do know the poor ultrasound tech looked terrified. haha.
The tech and the doctor both told us everything looks and is measuring perfectly and our little girl is growing at a healthy rate...which is what we cared more about than the gender. So...we've picked a name already and I am 110% in love with it.
Our little princess will be known as Elaina Rose. :) Elaina is a name I fell in love with not too long after finding out I was pregnant, and it's one of the few Kevin actually liked too! ha. Rose, is a family name of Kevin's...it's his mom's first name and was also his grandmothers middle name, so when he suggested it I was more than pleased! Cool fact...Elaina and I will have the same initals. ERG. :)

After the ultrasound the grandmas couldn't wait to start buying so we immediatly headed to Babies R Us where they went CRAZY in the clothing section. My neck is still sore from turning my head back and forth between the two of them to look at what they'd found. While we were there we also ordered the furniture for Elaina's nursery. It's a white 4-in-1 bed and dresser/changer by Koala Home. It's already in and sitting in our garage in the boxes. First order of nursery decorating business...PAINT!

A friend of mine had selected the 'Love Bird' bedding by BananaFish for her little girl and as soon as I saw it I was in love...so, we decided to use it for Elaina's room!

It took us (me) forever to decide on a paint color. I wanted something different, chic, but girly. So, after staring at paint chips for days we (i) have decided to do the walls in a pale blue that perfectly matches the blue bird, leaf, and stripe (which you can't see in the picture) from the bedding. Yes. Blue. For a girl. *gasp*...my theory, WHY NOT?!? I love blue...it's one of my favorite colors. And the blue we've picked is a very bright and "girly" blue. So, I'm excited about it. I also have plans to use a few other colors on the walls in her room, but you'll just have to wait for the AFTER pictures for that!!

I promise to be a better blogger and not wait so long between updates. Heck, maybe I'll even update 3 or 4 times a week?!?!?!? keyword: maybe :)

a fun 2.5 hours in baby depot...

and i think we've found our furniture!

this is the dresser, but we won't be getting the hutch. just the bottom part...and it will be this color. (espresso)

and this is the crib. it's a 4-in-1 so it will grow with the baby!

originally i said i wanted white for a girl, but after looking at all the white furniture and liking NONE of it, we've decided to go with espresso regardless of the gender! :)

we had a blast in baby depot. we'd only been there once and it was way before we got pregnant and i ended up sad (boohoo!) and left! haha. this time however we looked at EVERYTHING...and had fun doing it! we can't wait to start registering and all that fun stuff...and looking at all the adorable baby stuff made us a million times more excited (is that even possible?!) for baby G to get here!!!

we have movement!!!!...and a new date...

*New Date for the baby shower...it's now been pushed back to May 22nd! There were some issues with the 15th (like my BFF being in a wedding that day!!!!) so we decided to reschedule. We've also changed the location to The Coffee Station in my hometown! I'm super excited and can't wait to have all my favorite people in one room! :)

Oh, and MOVEMENT!! I was lying in bed Saturday morning being lazy when I felt the most amazing thing in the world...our little one move! At first I thought I was imagining it, but he/she continued to move around and I knew it was for real. Since then I've felt him/her move every single day...not a whole lot, but enough to remind me of the little miracle that's growing in my tummy! I LOVE the feeling! :) I'm sure in a couple months those karate chops to the bladder and roundhouse kicks to the ribs won't be so "sweet" but it will all be worth it very soon!

More to come later...it's almost 10:30 and waaayyyyy past my bedtime! :P

17 weeks...wow!

I can't believe I'm already 17 weeks! It honestly seems like last week I was standing in the bathroom holding onto the sink so I didn't pass out looking at the word 'Pregnant' on the pregnancy test! 17 down...23 more to go! Almost 1/2 way there!! :)

I had my 4th appointment Wednesday, this time with Dr Harmon. I'd heard great things about her and after meeting her I can see why everyone loves her! She was so so so nice!! The appointment started off as normal with the urine sample, weight, blood pressure, etc. I'm down 6 pounds since my first appointment. I know, I'm not SUPPOSE to be losing weight, but it's hard making yourself eat when you honestly just can not stomach the thought of food! However, I feel like my appetite has increased lately, so I'm going to start trying to eat 5 small meals each day during the week. Hopefully that will add some (healthy) pounds! The doctor didn't really seem worried about the weight loss though, so if she's not then neither am I! I know baby G is getting all the nutrients he/she needs and that's what matters most!

Anywho, my blood pressure was 120/70 which is great and I later found out according to my urine sample I was dehydrated. I have no idea how because I'd drank 64oz of water before my appointment!! I've had a cold since Monday and she said that may be partly to blame, that my body was just holding onto all the liquids it could! After all that fun stuff the nurse came in and told me it was time to listen to the heartbeat! *YAY!* She started out searching for the baby and found him/her rather quickly! Then he/she moved. She found them again...and once again *poof* moved! haha. It was so sweet! It made me so happy to know the baby was so active! The heartbeat was great at 148! I LOVE the sound of that heart! I swear I could listen to it all day long!

Dr Harmon came in, talked about a few things then said "So, how about we find out if we have a boy or a girl on the way?!? We'll have you back in 3 weeks for the ultrasound!"...SO, we go back March 9th at 8:00 a.m (yay for not waiting all day!) for the BIG reveal! WE CAN'T WAIT! We honestly will be 110% happy with a boy OR a girl we're just DYING TO KNOW!! We've asked both of our mothers to go so they can enjoy the big news with us! I think it will be even more special for them to be there! We're all so darn excited!

((can i just add i'll be SO excited to know what this baby is so people will stop with the "oh, heartburn? it's a boy." "really sick? oh, it's a girl, i just know it." "you pooped twice in one week? definetly a boy!"...seriously...STOOOPPPP! if i want to know your guess, i'll ask! the end.))