Long Distance Family and Friends Baby Shower

My parents threw baby shower #2 for us yesterday here in Florida at our house. Unfortunately, my extended family is spread throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas. And most of my close friends are out of state as well. My mom did an awesome job of getting us "showered" anyway though! We got many gifts sent to us in the mail and besides my immediate family, I had my best friend, Casey, her daughter, Jayla, and mom, Karin, come.. and also a very close friend that I met in North Carolina, Tiffany, drove down for the day. It was a small, but special, baby shower.
The theme was "Let's Feather Their Nest" =) So there was lots of feathers, birds, and nests!
I have a funny story about the cake... On Friday, my mom texted me and said, "I just picked up the cake and it made me laugh." I said, "oh no! A good laugh or a bad laugh?" and she said, "It's just not what I was expecting, it is unique." haha Here it is...

She was not expecting an actual "3D" bird in a nest! haha But everyone thought it was really cute. I think it's adorable. And it was definitely delicious :) (You can also see the invitation in those pictures)

My mom also made this T-Shirt for Tyler to wear....

It says "Wyatt's Daddy" Is that not so stinkin' cute? He sported it very proudly! I told him now he has a shirt to wear during labor and delivery too :)

And now just a few pictures

                                                               Chocolate fondue table!

My parents bought us the stroller/car seat combo and also the Pack N Play... we now have all the "big" baby items we needed!! I don't have any pictures of us opening gifts as they were all taken on my parent's camera. Maybe I'll post a few more pictures once I get those.
A BIG Thank You to my parents for being such a blessing to us and throwing such a wonderful shower! And all my family and friends that sent or came with gifts! My grandparents in Minnesota also called during the shower which I thought was so thoughtful. Wyatt is already so loved and we cannot wait for him to become part of this family!

29 weeks

How far along? 29 weeks, 4 days


Size of baby? A little over 15 inches and 2.5 pounds

Total weight Gain/Loss? Up 19 pounds. I knew I would gain weight, but it is very weird seeing the scale go up week after week! I tried to gain weight for years, and now the pounds just keep packing on! haha

Maternity Clothes? .. are so comfortable!! =) I finally got a pair of maternity jeans and also a pair of black slacks. I have a handful of shirts now too. I still find myself buying non-maternity tops that are perfect for my belly. So I wear a mixture of both, just depends on the outfit.

Gender? It's a Boy!

Movement? All day long it seems! And he rarely wakes me up at night moving around (I think just twice).. so I'm hoping that's a good sign :)

Sleep? I have no problems in the sleeping department.

Symptomns? Nasal congestion/nose bleeds (I think I'll have this one the entire pregnancy), mild back/neck/shoulder pain (only if I'm on my feet to much), and those infamous, numerous bathroom breaks :) And I do deal with the occassional emotional outbursts where I cry a little to frequently for Tyler's liking, lol.

Belly Button? It's hard to describe, haha. Not an outie, but barely passing for an innie!

What I am looking forward to?
-Another baby shower, this time from my mom (both sides of the family)! Also, a very good friend from South Carolina will be coming for it! That is Saturday, the 16th. Then on Sunday, the 24th my co-workers are doing a shower for me at Olive Garden.
- And we start Childbirth Classes tonight!!


I am down to the every-other week appointments. (every other Friday) Every check-up has been a breeze so far. I am very thankful for this and hope it continues through the end!

Texas Trip/Baby Shower

And I thought August flew by! Wow, where has September gone?! It has been 1 month since I've updated, sorry! I will do a 28 week preggo update next week complete with a belly pic. For now, here is a 25 week belly pic!

Everything is going just fine.. I've had another Dr. appointment. Weight gain is still on track, blood pressure was perfect, belly size was good, heartbeat was prefect.. it was the quickest appointment yet! 2:00 appointment and we were out of the parking lot at 2:25 =) My appointments are every 2 weeks now so the next one is Friday, October 1st (I will be doing the glucose test).

But for now, I just wanted to share pictures from our quick weekend trip to Texas! We flew into Dallas on Friday afternoon and grabbed lunch at our favorite.. Taco Bueno. That night we went to the Texas Rangers vs. NY Yankees baseball game! Before the game, we got dinner at Dickey's BBQ (... and let me tell you, I still can't stop thinking about it! It was sooooo good!) It was actually a very good game (for baseball). Other than the H-E-A-T and the many, many trips to the bathroom, it was a blast!

Saturday was the baby shower!! Before the shower, we got lunch at PotBelly's .. what can I say, we like trying new restraunts (especially ones we don't have in Florida). It was delicious! Then we flew back to Florida Sunday morning. For sure our shortest trip to TX, but so worth it =)

(I have a few more pictures I wish I could add, but the picture uploader program is being cranky!) The baby shower was so wonderful!!! Most people drove many hours to be there. We received SO many gifts.. it was such a blessing, and we could NOT be more thankful!!

22/23 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks
How far along? 23 weeks


Size of baby? 11.5 inches long and weighs 1 pound !!

Total weight Gain/Loss? Up 13/14 pounds

Maternity Clothes? I am in dire need of these, haha. I have no maternity bottoms and only 2 actual maternity tops. (both of which I am wearing in the pictures above, lol) It's hard to spend money on something that I'll only need a few months, especially when they are so darn expensive. Within the next few weeks I'll have to break down and buy some new clothes though.

Gender? It's a Boy!

Movement? All the time.. and on my list of top life experiences. There's just nothing like it. I am finally starting to feel actual "kicks" too, rather than just tumbling. He can be felt on the outside now so Tyler is finally able to be involved :) Although, the little stinker will stop whatever he's doing as soon as Tyler tries to feel. I've heard a couple mentions from other pregnant ladies about getting kicked in the ribs.. and I have to say sometimes I would like to be kicked in the ribs... he is soooo low, I feel like I need to push him up sometimes, haha. Weird.

Sleep? I am starting to get slightly uncomfortable. Good thing I have my Snoogle =) Not to bad though, I sleep superbly (is that a word?), just the usual wake-ups for the bathroom and it's back to snoozing.

Symptomns? Still have major nasal congestion along with light nosebleeds. Lots of bathroom breaks. And I mean lots. The sciatic nerve pain has still not come back (yay!) but I have had, I guess, ligament pain on my belly. It lasted about 2 or 3 days. And (from the research I did) I think it came up from working out. It's hard to find the right balance of "staying active" versus "resting and relaxing" .. both of which I am supposed to be doing, ha. And I have the dry eyes too. Nothing major and overall, I feel great!

Belly Button? It's hard to describe, haha. Not an outie, but barely passing for an innie!

What I am looking forward to? Getting the bedding set this week, thanks to Tyler's Aunt Terrie and Uncle Paul! And my first baby shower back in Texas from Tyler's family is in less than 3 weeks!!! I can't wait! My mom bought me the dress I am going to wear, while we were at the mall last weekend. She said that way there will be a "piece of her" with me =)
 
Next baby check-up is September 17th. But look for a post on the progress of the nursery to come next! It has begun! Our goal is to have it complete by the time I am 30 weeks.

A Little Bit of Everything...

Is it just me or did August absolutely FLY by? Probably because it has been my best month of this pregnancy so far, lol. =) School starts back up on Monday so I will be back to Lowe's during the day, then Grace Lutheran School for Extended Day with my Pre-schoolers and Kinders. I am a little worried, but then I remember that I somehow got through it back in the Spring dealing with morning sickness (at all hours of the day) everyday. And I really, really LOVE working at Grace (also our church) so I am looking forward to it... we'll see how long I can go.

Well, I plan on doing a 22/23 week update tomorrow, but realized I have a bunch of random pictures I wanted to post so I am doing this separate post just so I can blab about some pictures.

As you know, we found out we are having a boy on the 9th. I have a calendar in the kitchen that I wrote "2:15... BOY OR GIRL?" for our Dr. appointment. Just the other day I noticed that had been erased and my funny husband had replaced it with this....

We have been working on clearing out Tyler's (old) office/man cave so it can be converted into a precious nursery =) (He's having a hard time with it but is proud that, "It will still be a man's room!!") Here are some 'in the process" pictures of what a mess it looked like this past week.

We got rid of an old recliner that my mom rocked my 13 year old brother in!!! Sold a desk, office chair, and TV. And gave the desktop computer to my little brother. Two bookshelves and all the books are now in the guest bedroom, and all of his JUNK (hehe) was put in other closets or brought to the garage. It is now an EMPTY bedroom with 3 bibs and a few outfits hanging in the closet!!! ....

Now it is time to really get to work! After weeks of discussion, I broke down and let Tyler pick out the "theme"/bedding set. It will not be anything close to what I had imagined it would look like, but as long as we have a beautiful, healthy baby boy in it .. what more could I want?
It will still be precious and we are so excited to start putting it together.

And lastly, I just had to take some pictures of the outfits we have. I can not get over the cuteness. Last weekend when we were in Georgia with my family, my mom bought these...

It says, "Whoo's too cute!" and look at that little guy with his bib and tie, awww!!

Is that not so adorable for a little baby boy?

And this is my favorite one!!! It says, "Mane Man" ahhhhh, so cute!!!!!

This last one was from Tyler's Aunt Debbie.. she gave it to us back in June before we knew it was a boy =) I love it.

Look for a weekly update tomorrow!

It's A......

BOY!!!!!

(But you all already knew that.. haha) And here is the proof....

(see arrow)

AND WE ARE THRILLED!!! Of course, we would have been just as thrilled either way to hear our babe was growing and healthy, regardless of gender. But deep in our hearts we both desired a little boy.. how awesome is He. We are overwhelmed with thankfulness, just as we were when we discovered I was pregnant. We are having the time of our lives =) Here is another picture of our little guy....

His arms/hands were chilling up behind his head. The ultrasound tech said, "He looks like a thinker." lol His heart looked great. His head measured 1 week ahead and his leg bones measured almost 2 weeks ahead. Either that means a) he will be a big baby or b) he will come early..... OPTION B, PLEASE! My favorite quote though, "You couldn't ask for a healthier baby." *sigh* Music to my ears... We got a DVD of the entire ultrasound she recorded for us.

I also had a regular check-up this week. Everything checked out good there too! The last blood test they did (the MSAFP) came back normal, my blood pressure was right on, my weight gain is still at 1 lb. a week, and Dr. said I look great. He said I'll probably gain 25 pounds and I'll lose it all by my 6-8 week check-up and everyone will hate me. Ummm, I don't know what makes him think that but let's hope he's right, haha. (well except the hating me part) lol
Of course it was great getting to listen to the heartbeat again =) I'll never forget what he said (I already wrote it down in my preggo notes).... "This little boy is going to turn your world upside down. He is jetting around all over the place in there!" We would be listening to the heartbeat, then we would hear a "swoosh", then we would hear it again followed by a "swoosh", ect. I rarely feel an actual kick. It is more like "swimming around" ... I'm hoping that means he'll like swimming ;)

And lastly, an update on the sciatica. I recognized that I was waking up constantly in the middle of the night on my BACK, which is a big no-no apparently while you're pregnant. Well, Tyler insisted on buying me a SNOOGLE - Total Body Pillow .. (I couldn't see spending that much money on a silly looking pillow, but we bought it nonetheless) It has kept me from rolling onto my back while I sleep, and I have had absolutely no sciatic nerve pain since then. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence.... ? But I am glad =) I am sure it will show up again, but for now I am feeling GREAT!!

Next appointment is Friday, September 17th. After that one, appointments will be every 2 weeks, December will be here before we know it!

20 weeks?!?!

This week I am celebrating 20 weeks... the half-way mark!! In a way, I can not believe I have already made it here. On the other hand, I can not believe I still have 20 weeks left. hehe More than anything my heart is FULL of thankfulness. All my check-ups have come with good reports and I've haven't had any complications.
In case you forgot..... the big ultrasound is in 6 DAYS!!!! SO. EXCITED. Once again praying that baby is healthy and well more than anything!! Still trying to figure out how we are going to let all the family (both sides) know the news.

Here's my 20 week belly....

Along with the lovely bump has come the lovely sciatic nerve pain (insert sarcasm). Which has really put a damper on the awesome working out I was doing. Sometimes just walking brings with it stabbing pain down the right side of my body. I guess if it's not one thing, it's another =) No matter how much pain I'm in, I feel that baby tumble around and all is well in the world!!!

P.S. What do you think about my new background? I am loving it!