23 weeks

How far along? 23 weeks - Happy Thanksgiving!

Total weight gain: 12-13 pounds?

Maternity clothes? yep

Sleep: Love it. It's getting harder to get comfortable since I'm a natural stomach sleeper and that is definitely out of the question now. The hip and back pain also make it hard to find a comfy position, but I'm hanging in :-)

Best moment this week: Feeling baby girl movements from the outside! She's definitely growing and getting stronger.

Food Cravings: Bagels with cream cheese and Switzers licorice, as usual.

Movement: I feel something every day and usually it's pretty low. Lots more just in the last few days!

Gender: GIRL!!

Labor Signs: NONE. I hope to answer this question that way until March.

Belly Button in or out? In and spreading

What I miss:Being able to play Wii with my family and not hurting myself! I feel so fragile.
What I am looking forward to: There's so much to look forward to I can't pick one thing.

Weekly Wisdom: Love more, fear less.

Milestones: Past halfway!

22 weeks

How far along? 22 weeks
Total weight gain: 12 pounds (?) I'm trying not to be too crazy about weighing myself.
Maternity clothes? yep
Sleep: Love it. I still definitely think that there should be a mandatory 9:30 bedtime for pregnant women.
Best moment this week: Being able to find baby girl's heartbeat so quickly every time I try with the doppler.
Food Cravings: Bagels with cream cheese and Switzers licorice, as usual.
Movement: I feel something every day and usually it's pretty low.
Gender: GIRL!!
Labor Signs: NONE. I hope to answer this question that way until March.
Belly Button in or out? In and spreading
What I miss: I can't think of anything
What I am looking forward to: Seeing the families for Thanksgiving - there is so much to be thankful for this year.
Weekly Wisdom: A thankful heart goes a long way.
Milestones: Past halfway!

21 weeks

How far along? 21 weeks
Total weight gain: 11 pounds
Maternity clothes? yep
Sleep: Love it. There should be a mandatory 9:30 bedtime for pregnant women.
Best moment this week: Getting some reassurance from my OB that everything is looking great and that the lower back pain I feel is not indicative of preterm labor.
Food Cravings: Bagels with cream cheese and Switzers licorice. I'm starting to be pretty consistent with these two!
Movement: Still not totally consistent, but I usually feel something every day. Some days she's much more active than others. Right around 5:00-5:30 she is pretty active - maybe she's hungry like me?
Gender: GIRL!!
Labor Signs: NONE. I hope to answer this question that way until March.
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: My memory/full brain power.
What I am looking forward to: Our no plans Saturday. I plan to sleep in, eat a bagel, take a nap, and hang with my husband in our pajamas. It couldn't be better!
Weekly Wisdom: There are so many little things that happen everyday that show us how loved we are. We just have to slow down enough to see them.
Milestones: Past halfway!

baby girl's room

Here's the progress so far, which is pretty good!

Room before paint:


Room after paint: Only three walls are painted purple because the back wall will be taken over by a mural painted by Nathan's dad. It will be so beautiful!

20 weeks

How far along? 20 weeks - the produce measurements are starting to get weird. This week is a cantaloupe and next week is a banana? I'm not so sure about that! I don't think they work as well once the baby starts to get bigger.
Total weight gain: 10 pounds (right on track, according to my OB)
Maternity clothes? yep
Sleep: Love it.
Best moment this week: Feeling some distinct nudges from baby girl. She is starting to get stronger and letting me know when she's awake!
Food Cravings: Bagels with cream cheese!!!
Movement: Some and it seems to be a little bit more every day. This may be my favorite part so far.
Gender: GIRL!!
Labor Signs: NONE. I hope to answer this question that way until March.
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: Being able to be as active as before. I have to slow down and take breaks otherwise I pay for it later.
What I am looking forward to: Seeing her room painted this week and oddly enough cleaning out the basement closets this weekend.
Weekly Wisdom: If you're feeling anything weird and aren't sure about it, call your doctor. Even if it reaffirms what you already think, it will make you feel a lot better.
Milestones: 20 weeks is halfway!

Baby Girl

Sweat 4 Pets

The Sweat 4 Pets is a big event for us each year. It's an annual fundraiser for local pet charities held in Tower Grove Park. They have a 1 mile fun walk, 5K, and 10K.

2006: I sat on the sidelines with Jackamo while Nate did the 5K. I remember feeling so lame watching everyone be active while I just camped out. The guys looked great though!



2007: We did not participate. However, I was on my weight loss journey then and decided that in 2008 I would run the 5K. This seemed like a completely unattainable goal but I was determined.

2008: My first 5K! There was a group of 4 of us and we all ran the 5K. My friend Megan also did her first 5K on that day and we were both so excited and nervous. Our husbands can both run a 5K with little to no preparation, however. I also laid out my future plans for the next several years on this day. I said that hopefully in 2009 I would do the 1 mile fun walk because I would be pregnant, in 2010 I would do the 5K with a jogging stroller, and in 2011 I would do the 10K with a jogging stroller, then there was even talk of double jogging strollers after that.


Me before the race feeling very official with my number pinned on!


Us before the race. It was freezing! It actually started to flurry while we were running.


Me along with the Osborns at the line up. Nate was way ahead of us because he's speedy.


Almost to the end!


At the shoot and sprinting to the end!


2009: Just as I said I would last year, this year I did the 1 mile fun walk while Nate ran the 5K. It was perhaps the most beautiful day in the history of the world and it was great to look back and see how things have changed since our first time here in 2006. God has been so gracious to us!

My guys before the run


Charging through to the finish


The walkers at home after the race


I can't wait to see our pictures from 2010!

Date Night

Since last winter, we've had a recipe torn out from an old Sauce Magazine. It's for fonduta mac 'n' cheese: recipe here. It seemed a little too fancy for an average weeknight, so when planning this week's date night this was the recipe that came to mind.

Making the fonduta cream - adding in the fontina cheese


After the bake


Our fancy table. We also had roasted cauliflower and asiago cheese bread. That's a glass of sparkling apple cider for all of you pregnancy police!


After dinner we watched Once and really enjoyed it! After the movie we went with some friends to our favorite little place for dessert.

We had a great night!

Halloween, a bit late

Halloween was interesting this year. I'll be honest, I was not in in the mood to dress up and go to a party. Nate, on the other hand, had his costume picked out for months. We saw a Demetri Martin sketch about a guy who was too early for a rave. Check it out on YouTube here.
He was ready to go with his hair in pony tails, glow sticks, and disco speakers. I was not at all prepared and at the last minute decided I had enough around the house to be a 50's housewife. I'm glad we decided to dress up and go because we had fun!




Who wouldn't have fun with this guy?

20 weeks!

20 week mom view

I'm so excited to be 20 weeks pregnant today! Officially halfway! Baby girl must be going through a growth spurt this week because I have been feeling a lot of stretching and aching from everything growing. She's also taking all of my energy and making me extra hungry! This poses the question: how many bagels with cream cheese can I eat and still gain the appropriate amount of weight? I feel like I could live on bagels!!!!

Click on this link to see how she's developing.

19 weeks

How far along? 19 weeks - a baby zucchini!
Total weight gain: 9 pounds
Maternity clothes? yep
Sleep: Still unsure about the body pillow and having some strange dreams.
Best moment this week: Having my OB confirm that we have a girl and getting to see her moving around on the ultrasound
Food Cravings: Halloween candy?
Movement: Little taps, rumbles, and vibrations here and there still, it will probably be a couple more weeks until I'm feeling more regular strong movement. I can't wait!
Gender: GIRL!!
Labor Signs: NONE. I hope to answer this question that way until March.
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: Feeling alert and being able to get more things done at night. I just keep dozing off!
What I am looking forward to: Everything! The holidays, getting baby girl's room together, 2010, the weekend, everything.
Weekly Wisdom: When it's the hardest to be nice and understanding is probably when it matters most.
Milestones: Every day is a milestone :-)