Weekend Getaway

This weekend Josh & I went away to my parents' ranch. He has been so busy with work & traveling & I have had work & baby stuff & all kinds of preoccupations; we definitely needed a break!

It was SO NICE to be away & take a mental break from everything. We slept in, laid around, made a big breakfast, went in to San Angelo & walked around the stores downtown & hung out at the soda foundation to get a coke float & a milkshake, looked at antiques, then ate an early dinner at a restaurant that used to be a bank in the 1890's with a tunnel that connected to a brothel (who knew things were so sketchy back then in San Angelo??), rode the ATV & talked with the cows, & slept some more.

We were not ready to get back to real life, that is for sure. But we were really thankful for the opportunity to go relax for a while!

Week 23

FYI: I do indeed have other things going on in my life besides being pregnant, I promise! I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to blog about anything besides this weekly update (that I have to squeeze in sometimes!). So sorry if you are getting bored with this... come back in 3 1/2 months! :-)

Fruit/Veggie

Large mango (weight not length)

Size

Over 11 inches head to foot, & over 1 pound

Baby Changes (Source: BabyCenter.com.)

Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him when he hears them outside the womb.

Best Moment this Week

We got a couple of the pieces of furniture for his room in yesterday; I'm hoping we'll get to put those together next week sometime. Josh is working on building shelves in the garage for more storage. I also got in a couple of diapers that I had ordered (we are going to cloth diaper... I'll let you get out the whole "you're crazy!" reaction from that side of the computer). So I can't wait to start getting things put together... it's still just in piles right now. Oh ya, & we registered!

Gender

BOY! Elliot James.

Movement

Same old thing - he's a squirmer!

Food Craving

I have about 3 diet Cherry Cokes a week. Yum. I try not to have caffeine every day.

Sleep

I sleep mostly on my sides now, which is just not near as comfortable as on my back. I'm still sleeping, just not comfortably.

What I am looking forward to

Getting his room together... still!

Symptoms

Slight nausea, exhaustion (I asked about it at my appointment & after analyzing all the factors, it's just how I experience pregnancy - tired!), bad lower back pain (not constant, but piercing, & it is worse on some days than others), aversions

Week 22

Fruit/Veggie

Spaghetti Squash

Size

11 inches head to foot, & almost one pound

Baby Changes (Source: BabyCenter.com.)

Your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn, & he's developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums.

Best Moment this Week

My mom & I got the fabric to make his crib skirt & window treatments, & I got further in my planning for his wall decor. We ordered the furniture (but won't get it for at least 6 weeks since it's currently out of stock).

Gender

BOY! Elliot James.

Movement

He moves often from breech to head-down, so sometimes his kicks are high & sometimes they are low. A couple of times I have felt his kicks making a circle as his feet moved counter-clockwise around my stomach. It's funny to feel him squirming around.

Food Craving

Still cherry stuff, like Cherry Coke.

Sleep

I think I turned a corner in the sleeping department... onto Uncomfortable Street. Sleeping is not as comfortable anymore. I'll wake up in the night with my back hurting because I'm sleeping on it, & I don't get that "ahh, bed" feeling anymore no matter how tired I am because I just feel awkward laying down now. Poo. I knew it wouldn't last! It might be time to use the pregnancy pillow.

What I am looking forward to

We are registering this weekend... I'm hoping we make it out alive. There are SO MANY things to consider, & Josh doesn't care for a lot of it, so at first I said we could just register together for the stuff he had an opinion about & I'd do the rest later, but last time we were in there he expressed an opinion about almost everything. SO, we'll be there a while!!

Symptoms

I was excited to say that it seemed I was over the nausea... until yesterday. I felt horrible yesterday, bad headache, nauseous, tired. The headache is gone today but my stomach is still yucky & I was so tired this morning, I went to the gym, quit halfway through my workout, came home & went back to sleep. So, I don't know if the nausea is gone yet or not. I was thinking too, that everyone told me the exhaustion would be gone by week 14... so 8 weeks later, it's starting to wear on me. I'm over halfway done... I can make it!! No, being pregnant is definitely not my favorite physical state... but I want to meet our little guy! & feeling him move around makes it better.

Week 21

Fruit/Veggie

Carrot

Size

10 1/2 inches head to foot; no weight in the email this week, weird.

Baby Changes (Source: BabyCenter.com.)

Your baby's eyebrows & lids are present now. (It also mentions that I should soon be feeling flutters turn to kicks, but Elliot's been kicking the poo out of me for a few weeks now, so that's old news.)

Best Moment this Week

We bought a glider for his room, & I did some online registering. I feel productive actually getting stuff done!

Gender

BOY! Elliot James.

Movement

Still kickin' away. It's getting more obvious what he's doing in there - I am starting to be able to distinguish what his movements are. He moved a couple days ago from being breech to being head-down so now his kicks are high instead of low. He also lets me know when I'm bending over too far, like he doesn't have as much room in there all of a sudden.

Food Craving

Cherry flavored stuff... cherries, cherry flavored sparkling water, cherry Coke. Random.

Sleep

I'm sleeping okay. I have determined based on the past two Saturdays that my body needs about 11 hours of sleep a night right now. I'm definitely not getting that which is why I'm always tired. My back hasn't hurt too much this past week which is good.

What I am looking forward to

Continuing to register & get his room ready! I have a feeling this will be a project for the next month-6 weeks.

Symptoms

Slight nausea, exhaustion, aversions.

it's go time

So, everything up until this point has been waiting. Waiting for our first appointment. Waiting for our second appointment. Waiting to tell people. Waiting to feel better (still kind of waiting with that one...). Waiting to find out our baby's identity.

& now... BOMBARDED! I feel like I have a million things to do. I need to register soon, so I need to research products. I need to figure out where I'm going to register. I need to create my baby shower guest list. I need to decide if I'm going to take any classes, because I need to sign up soon. AH! Not to mention, we need to clean out Elliot's room so we can order his furniture & start setting things up. Whoa! When did all this happen?! I have (assumedly [I just got spell-checked - assumedly isn't a word? it is now]) four months before he comes, but so much else going on in that time, & I feel the crunch now.

So, IT'S GO TIME PEOPLE!

Week 20 (halfway there!)

Fruit/Veggie

Banana

Size

10 inches head to foot, & BabyCenter says he should weigh around 10 1/2 oz. but as of last week he weighed 11 oz, so he's a little above that.

Baby Changes (Source: BabyCenter.com.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, & you'll see it in his first soiled diaper. (aren't you glad you know that now?)

Best Moment this Week

Our appointment/anniversary! It was a great day. I had a milkshake to get him moving for the ultrasound, which worked! At the beginning he was moving around a lot so we quickly learned he was a boy, then he chilled out & when she was filming the DVD, she was poking my stomach so he'd move & he'd have none of it. We learned he is looking completely healthy, & growing right on schedule. After our appointment we grabbed some tea at It's a Grind, bought Elliot's first two outfits at Babies R Us, then Josh took me out to a French restaurant for dinner (yum!) & then to see "Letters to Juliet." It was a great anniversary!

Gender

BOY! Elliot James. Elliot is a modern version of the name Elijah, a prophet of the Old Testament, & his name means, "My God is Yahweh" or, "My God is the Lord." James is Josh's middle name, as well as a great book of the New Testament (one of my favorites actually). We are so excited to know who is in there. One of our friends told us that he has been praying the heart of Elijah over Elliot. We know God has good plans for him!

Movement

Elliot is a kicker! I don't know that he flips around much, he just seems to kick me quite often. Which, now that we had our ultrasound, doesn't surprise me because he has Josh's strong legs! Josh has felt him kick several times now so I'm glad for that.

Food Craving

My cravings are actually backing off quite a bit. I'm trying to eat a good balance of fruit, vegetables, protein, & carbs.

Sleep

I'm sleeping fine. Some nights I lay down, my back hurts pretty bad for a good 5-10 minutes, no matter how I lay.

What I am looking forward to

Ordering the furniture, cleaning out Elliot's closet to make room for his cute little clothes, & working on the decorations I have planned for the wall above his crib... I'll wait to tell you about those.

Symptoms

Slight nausea, exhaustion (seriously, most people say "fatigue" but that so doesn't describe well enough my unlimited tiredness. Apparently a lot of women get a burst of energy in the second trimester - I don't think I'm gonna end up getting that!), loose joints (sometimes when I walk it feels like my right leg wants to dislocate itself from the rest of me), thirsty (which is still bad with my extreme dislike of water, which leads me to -), aversions (water, hot coffee, mint), lower back pain (only some days).

It's Elliot!

We are indeed having a boy! We are excited to know it's Elliot in there. Here is his latest photo:

I'll update soon on week 20! Halfway done - crazy!