28 Weeks

So, here I am now 25 lbs heavier than when I first found out I was pregnant. I feel like it's more weight than that sometimes, but Will keeps reminding me that I'm supposed to gain the weight and that it's ok. I'm guessing I'll gain about 35-40lbs before it's all over with.

I had my glucola test today and I can thankfully say that I passed! I was shocked after all the sweets that I've not only been eating this entire pregnancy, but especially after Christmas. I checked out ok with everything else today, as well, and our little boy seems to be doing just fine, too. We heard the heartbeat today and also the movements he was making, which was almost funny because he was moving around so much a couple of times that you couldn't really hear his heart. Oh, and the orange drink I had to have before the test wasn't that bad either - I was really worried about how bad the taste was going to be so, it was a nice surprise when I took the first sip.

Well, we enjoyed our Christmas break and we were able to get out of town for a week! Our plans did get a little screwed up due to the big snow storm that came through, but we still got to see most everyone. We started the vacation by going to one of my grandmother's house first in North Carolina (my mom's mom) and stayed there until Wednesday. My parents and brother came to meet us on Monday, which we were thankful for because we didn't know if they were going to be able to come at all. We left Wed. and headed up to Maryland to see Will's family. We stayed with them until Monday and we were able to have a white Christmas! They originally got about 20 in. of snow so, as you can imagine, they still had some by the time we got up there. It was all gone by the time we left due to rain so Will never got to sled with Brienna, but we still enjoyed seeing it.

We did get a few baby items including the stroller/infant carrier I wanted and a nice video camera, which was a surprise. We were supposed to have a baby shower while in North Carolina, but it was cancelled due to the weather and other family members being snowed in. I am going to go back in the next couple of weeks for it, though, so, it will be nice to see everyone again and see the others we missed.

While we were away, we had a delivery of the furniture for the nursery come to the house. It was supposed to be delivered this week after we got back, but it wasn't. We've been putting it together tonight and last night and figuring out how we're going to set up the room - it's been fun, but also a BIG eye opener of what's to come!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year to come!

Here are some cakes we made before we left: We loved the grill!

26 Weeks

As my belly gets bigger, my face now gets bigger! Diana, one of the ladies from the alteration shop next to our shop, even said earlier this week when she saw me: "Your face is showing it now!" She is an older, Italian woman who will just tell you how it is, but she's hilarious. You have to appreciate the honesty from people.

This week has been busy for us...we've been getting ready for our trip, which means making sure we have everyone's gifts ready to go, working (of course), and we've completed a couple of things for the nursery. Will has really been the one working on the nursery with cleaning it up and putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls. We also had Stanley Steamer come and clean the carpet in that room so, we're ready for the furniture now! And speaking of furniture, I did order that earlier this week and it's scheduled to be here on the 30th. We got the crib, a larger dresser, a stand-up chest, and a nightstand and we can't wait to see it all! Once we get everything set up, I'll post some pictures.

Our little boy has continued to make his presence known by moving around so much, it seems like he never sleeps. I love it, though, and Will can feel him a lot more now, too! I'm continuing to do great with the pregnancy and am so thankful. Everyone pray that it stays on this path to the end!

Here is a picture of a groom's cake we did last week: It's a stack of law books, which were all half-sheet sized cakes (extremely heavy!) and fed 150 for the rehearsal dinner... who knows how big the wedding was! This week we have a Dr. Seuss book and a grill to make.

We look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas and hope everyone is doing well! Love to all!

25 Weeks

I have officially gained 20 pounds! We went to a dr.'s appointment on Monday and when I stepped on the scale the bottom of my mouth fell. I think I am starting to show it in my face now, which I'm not happy about. Despite this, the doc. said that I and our little boy are doing great and that my belly looks good. We got to hear the heartbeat and his movements are getting stronger and stronger - it feels like he's going to push through my stomach sometimes.

Also at our visit, we got our doc. back after her maternity leave, which we were very happy about. We told her we missed her and that the other doc. we saw was VERY different. She laughed and said that he had a totally different personality than she does.

It really makes a difference on who you see and how comfortable you feel so, we're hoping that when we actually go to the hospital to deliver we get either our doc. or someone like her. It will be the luck of the draw, though, because they all rotate who takes call.

At our next appointment, I will have the glucose test that will tell me if I have gestational diabetes. This will be right after Christmas so, hopefully, with all the sweets I'm sure I'll be eating, I won't test positive! I've continued to feel fine - I just get tired and my feet hurt at the end of the day. I've also been feeling pressure below my belly, which I think is due to all my standing (and growing). We mentioned it to the doc. and she said it was normal. I usually come home and sit for a while and I feel better.

In other news, we've been getting our Christmas shopping done. We are going to North Carolina this year so we will see everyone in my family, including both of my parents' sides of the family - and then we'll be heading up to Maryland to see Will's family. While we're in North Carolina, we will have our first baby shower, which we're sooo excited about!

This past weekend we went and registered at Target and Babies R'Us. While it was a lot of fun being able to "shoot" everything with the label gun, it was also very overwhelming trying to figure out what all we are going to need. Who knew that there were so many varieties of pasifiers (not sure if I spelled that right) and bottles and diaper bags and bath stuff and.....the list goes on. We did the best we could and the only two things we didn't put on the registry were diapers and clothes. We figured we're going to need those no matter what so, if anyone wants to get that, feel free to pick out whatever you'd like.

Well, it's almost time for bed so, I hope everyone is well! Can't wait to see everyone in a couple of weeks!

Oh, here is the fire truck cake we did last weekend:

24 Weeks

As you can see, we have our Christmas tree up! Will started everything and I just finished putting the ornaments on it earlier tonight. Next year, we'll be adding "baby's 1st Christmas" ornaments to it and I'm already excited!

We had a great Thanksgiving at my parents house in Tennessee - lots of food and baby goodies! And now that they know what the sex is, I can finally announce it on the blog: IT'S A BOY!!!!!

We can also finally stop referring to him as "the baby" or "it." I tried to upload the video that I took when my mom was cutting into the cake, but I'm not too good with computer technology so, I couldn't figure it out. The minute we got to my parent's house, my mom was asking for the cake - there was no waiting for dessert later that night. We asked them to guess what they thought it was before they cut into the cake and my mom and brother actually guessed a boy. My dad didn't guess because he said he really didn't care as long as we were both healthy.

Since it is a boy, though, we got all the hand-me-downs from my brother's son. We came home with a car seat, rocking chair, so many clothes, and a high chair. The high chair was a surprise gift my parents got us and it's not a typical high chair...all of our chairs at our house are the higher "bar" height chairs so, my mom found a high chair that doesn't have legs and you can use it on any chair you already have. Not sure if I made sense, but it will be nice to use and take with us on vacations if we need to. Thanks for everything mom and dad!

Also, now that everyone knows we're having a boy, we will going to register this weekend. We will be going to Babies R' Us and Target, most likely. It's getting to be crunch time and we are also trying to get the nursery started. As I mentioned last week, we got the bedding for the crib so we will be ordering the bed and bedroom furniture within the next week or so, hopefully.

It's all so overwhelming and exciting at the same time! AHHH! :)

I've been feeling great now that I'm over the horrible cold I had. I still get tired, but that's to be expected. And my mom actually told me I look smaller in person than I do in my pictures so that was good to hear! Other people that have seen me, as well, can't believe how far along I am because they thing I still look so small - I certainly don't feel like it, though! It's almost time to go shopping again!

Well, that's it for now. Hope everyone else had a good Thanksgiving!

Here are a couple of pics of cakes we've done. The cake with the anchor was done before we left and the turquoise cake was done today for a big 'event planners luncheon' we went to.

23 Weeks

Well, I have no picture this week - I guess I'm just being lazy, but I also don't look very good right now so I'd prefer not to put myself out there.
The baby is continuing to be active, which is always a very cool feeling, and I've been able to see the movements just looking down at my belly. It looks like there's some alien inside trying to get out sometimes. It seems to be really active when I first lay down to go to bed at night and then usually in the morning. On Sunday morning, I was fast asleep and Will had turned over and put his arm around me so he could hold my belly and he said that the baby was going so crazy that he didn't know how I didn't wake up! That was the most he's been able to feel it at once.
I've been feeling fine....I had a pretty bad cold that started last week, but I'm finally getting over it. I now just have the runny nose and occasional cough. Other than that, I've been good and continuing to grow.
We bought the baby's bedding for the crib earlier this week and it came today! I absolutely love it and we decided to go 'different' with it. Instead of doing a themed nursery, we decided to go geometric with cool colors, almost retro looking. Next, we'll have to get the crib and furniture and we will be getting a little more prepared with the room.
I signed up for all of our pregnancy classes today and those will start after the beginning of next year. They want you to wait until you're in your eighth month so that everything is fresh on your mind, which I am definitely a fan of. Will and I have a horrible time as it is trying to remember day-to-day stuff sometimes.
Tomorrow we're off to Tennessee to see my parents and brother for Thanksgiving. We are excited about the trip and my mom has been waiting 1 long month for this visit - she will get to cut into the cake we made and find out what we're having! Will has been saying that she's just going to bring a knife out to the car with her when we pull up in the driveway! We're taking the ultrasound pics for the proof so I'll post those next week and reveal to everyone else what we're having, if you don't already know. And I'll finally be able to say he/she and can stop saying 'the baby' or 'it' when I'm talking.
On that note, I hope everyone else has a wonder Thanksgiving! We have a lot to be thankful this year! Love to all!

22 Weeks

So, I am becoming all belly these days. Feeling the baby move around more and more and Will has been able to feel it more, as well. I've been feeling fine all except for the cold I've seemed to have picked up in the last couple of days.

We've been shopping around online getting ideas for the baby's room and have been productive in actually picking things out. We've decided on the bedding and what we're doing for the furniture. I'm not sure if anyone knows about the convertible cribs, but they're awesome - it's like getting 3 beds in 1 so, we're definitely doing that.

In other news, this past weekend we were able to relax and not work too hard. We were done with wedding deliveries by 2pm on Saturday and Sunday we went to church then took Zoe for an outing downtown, which she enjoyed, but was completely pooped afterwards. We also went out to the beach and you would've thought it was summer - the temp. was about 75 degrees and everyone was out in their bathing suits (except for us). Monday we did have to make our trip to Sam's club, but we took time to check out the new waterfront park in Mt. Pleasant on the way there, as well as, going to visit Babies R'US. We didn't purchase anything, but we made a "list" of the things we want to register for after we tell my parents, which it's only one more week that my mom has to wait!

That's it for now! Hope all is well with everyone!

Here are a couple of cakes we made last week: Feeling wild? Shall we tell your fortune?

21 Weeks

So these are a pair of my new preggy jeans that are sooooooo comfortable! You can wear them either way, but I usually wear them with the tummy band up. (Will's mom bought me these last weekend)

And here I am fully dressed- who knew those were preggy!

I was able to go shopping today for the first time by myself and talk about having to make choices...it was hard! I bought 2 more pairs jeans, a few shirts, and another pair of capris to wear to work. I'll have to get more, but I figured I had done enough damage in one day.

In other exciting news, we had our doctor's appointment this morning and got to see our baby again! We had the full anatomy scan done by ultrasound, which we're happy to report that everything with the baby and myself are as they should be - completely normal and developing on schedule! This was the ultrasound I've been worried and praying about the most since we never had any of the other tests done (down's syndrome, quad screen, etc.) so you can imagine how happy and thankful we were when the tech was going through everything and saying it looked good. She took about 50 pictures for the doctor and about 10 for us, which was cool. The whole process took about 45 min. so, it was almost like watching a short movie of what's going on inside of you, which is absolutely crazy and amazing at the same time.

The baby weighs a little less than a pound right now and I am up 15 lbs total for weight gain. We are both where we should be in weight and they said I was carrying very well. We're just continuing to pray that the remaining length of the pregnancy goes this smooth - we're less than halfway there now!

Our next appointment will be at the beginning of Dec., in about 4 wks, and we get to see our original doctor we started with, which we are so looking forward to! She's been out on maternity leave and we've had to see this other guy who we've not been to crazy about - he's just a little strange for our tastes.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from today's visit of the baby. Don't worry (mom), we made sure to get some where you couldn't tell what the sex was. These pics were taken just at the right spot where you can't tell what it is:

In the first pic, it looks like the baby is almost waving.

In the second, it looks like the baby is sucking it's thumb.