Things I don't want to forget...

This pregnancy is flying by and while I blog about different things there are some things I just don't want to forget so I'm going to document them tonight:)

The good
- The day I found out I was pregnant. It was about 6am, I peed on the stick and just crossed my fingers so hard that I would see 2 lines. My prayers were finally answered and I just couldn't believe it. Going in to tell J was surreal. I loved that we just snuggled and cuddled just spending the morning thinking about how much our lives changed in that instant.
- Seeing your cute "diamond ring" and blob in the first few ultrasounds. It was amazing to watch you grow
- Hearing your heartbeat for the first time. It brought tears to my eyes and I love that I eventually got to record it on my phone just to listen to it over and over.
- Every time we shared our news of your impending arrival with our family and friends. Each person was so excited for us and could not wait to meet you!
- Watching you move around and get comfortable during your first anatomy scan. Learning about your personality that day was amazing and seeing you look like a baby for the first time took my breath away.
- The second anatomy scan was even more amazing. You were moving ALL over the place and it was so neat to see you flip completely over. It was wonderful to see your face profile shot and get to have more idea about what you'll look like. It was amazing to see your heart beating and the 4 chambers pumping blood through your tiny body. Your tiny feet and hands were so sweet and it was so neat to watch you move them around. Made me long for the day when I get to kiss them and snuggle them!
- The day we found out you were a girl. There was so much speculation and almost everyone guessed you were a boy. It was funny because when we couldn't find out at the first anatomy scan, lots of people changed their guesses because they said you must be a modest little girl. You weren't modest that day and we're so thankful! It was the best money spent to find out and just get to plan for your arrival from then on. J initially hoped for a boy but it was so sweet how quickly his tune changed. He was thrilled to know he got to have a little girl to spoil.
- The day I first felt you kick. I was laying in bed in the morning and felt something but I felt that it was way too strong to be a kick. I realize now that it was definitely a kick! As the days and weeks passed your kicks got stronger and each one assures me that you're doing ok in there.
- The day J first felt you kick. He was somewhat impatient in waiting to feel you kick because you'd be kicking up a storm and as soon as he would put his hand on my stomach, you'd stop kicking! One night he waited long enough and felt your strong kick! His face was priceless. I think he was surprised at how strong it was:)
- The day I watched you bounce my belly all around. Your kicks have become more noticeable from the outside and I could just stare at my stomach all night. Watching you move around and make my belly bounce all around its just amazing. I still can't tell what body parts are moving around but it amazes me to know that you're moving around in there and getting comfy! Sometimes I sit in meetings and watch you move under my shirt and I wonder if anyone else can tell how much your moving. It's like my own personal acrobatic show:)
- My growing belly- I definitely look pregnant now and I love showing "you" off! Strangers notice and sometimes comment, thankfully with no mean comments so far:P
- Planning for your nursery. We had a pretty easy time picking out what we wanted your nursery to look like and it all just seemed to fall into place. J even got his girly turtle worked into it:)
- Registering for our baby shower. I've been to so many shower's and it was just an amazing (and overwhelming) experience to pick out what we wanted for YOU. Which crib is best, which baby tub, what shampoo, what carseat, what stroller...?
-Picking out your name. We had a name picked out for years but decided that it was not going to work for you. We immediately agreed that we liked Emily and tried to think of middle names. One night J woke up in the middle of the night, turned over and asked if I liked the name McKinley. Surprisingly, I did. That was another possibility. Then we came up with Piper. Its unique and both J and I love it. We're pretty sure that it's what we're going to name you at this point. We were going to do Piper McKinley but J didn't want two unique names so we're trying to figure out a more traditional middle name. Right now our front runner is Julianne.
- Looking forward to your arrival. I can't wait. I want to enjoy every moment of this pregnancy and yet I want to speed up time until you're ready to make your entrance to the world. I can't wait to see what you look like, to see what your personality is like, and to build our lives with you in it!
- Watching J fall more in more in love with you- it's hard because he's not experiencing all the same things I am with this pregnancy but he talks to you and kisses my belly every morning. He's so in love with you already and he always asks me how you're doing throughout the day:) He's going to be such a good daddy to you!


I'd like to say that it's all amazing in pregnancy but there are some cons...
-Morning sickness- I spent many mornings feeling pretty nauseous and got sick a few times. Thankfully food was the cure all and as long as I ate when I felt nauseous I'd have a brief reprieve. It also seemed to end right around 12 weeks! I only feel sick when I don't eat enough but that is my fault.
- The BLOAT- it was pretty constant for the first trimester. It was hard to fit in my clothes even before I had a belly and was pretty painful.
- Lower back pain- it started pretty early on and seems to be the worst after days of a lot of activity and hard work around the house. There have also been a few days of pretty severe sciatica nerve pain. Thankfully it's not constant and if I take it easy my back seems to be ok.
- Constipation- Sorry for the TMI but it's not fun to deal with
- The discharge- I feel like I'm still taking the progesterone suppositories. It's pretty ridiculous!
- Having to sleep on my sides- I'm normally a stomach sleeper and was able to do that until about 20 weeks. Now it's not advised to sleep on my stomach and it's pretty impossible to do even if I tried. I try to sleep on my sides but I wake up constantly to flip over and my sides and hips hurt:(
- Waking up to pee all the time- right now I generally get up during the 4am hour to pee. Seems to coincide with when Simba is awake and wants me to watch him eat. I long for the days of sleeping through the night but know that it will be a very VERY long time before I can do that again.
- Finding a daycare- we're still on the hunt. I hate that I have to leave you with someone else during the day so I can go to work. The emotional side of me just wants to stop working and stay home with you. The practical/financial side of me knows that working is a good idea so I'm trying to figure out a balance. The day care centers and one in home place we've checked out are all fine and you'd be ok at each one, but I'm completely underwhelmed by all of them and don't want you to go there:P
- My growing belly- I love it most of the time but it's causing some self-image issues. It's better now that I'm obviously pregnant but for a few weeks I dreaded getting dressed in the morning because of how huge I felt. I look forward to working off this baby weight as soon as possible.

26 weeks and baby prep!

Today I'm 26 weeks along. It's crazy to me because that means that I have 98 days left until my due date! We've hit double digits:) I get more and more excited to meet my little girl as each day passes. She is so active and I love the feeling of her kicks and rolls (at least I think they're rolls). This past weekend we went to my brother's engagement party and everyone was so excited for us. My mom and sister had their hands on my belly just waiting to feel a kick. Of course I have a trouble maker and she stopped kicking when they did that but later in the evening my mom felt a few:) I feel like I'm getting huge but people keep assuring me that I look fine.

Yesterday we bought our nursery furniture. The crib was 50% off when you bought 2 or more matching pieces of furniture. We got the dresser which we were already planning to do and then got the toddler guard rail. We weren't planning to get it but it was a better deal with it. We also got 20% off both our glider and ottoman. And then we got 10% off all of it for opening a BRU credit card! Saved us a good $300 bucks:) I'm so excited to get everything too. Our crib/dresser should be available in the next 2 weeks but our glider will take 10-12 weeks because it was special order. I hope it doesn't actually take that long but even if it does it should be *just* in time! Here are pics of each item. The glider/ottoman will be in a chocolate color.


Last week I also caved and got another PPB bag! I got the wistful weekender for 41% off:) I can't wait to get it and plan to use it for our hospital bag. J was sweet about it and didn't give me too much of a hard time for getting it either.


Today I scored another great deal. Our pack n play went on sale for $50 off so I decided to get it and then if we get it for our shower we can return it and use the $ for other stuff. There were also 2 other deals that went in conjunction with the purchase. For making a purchase over $100 I got a $10 BRU gift card and a free umbrella stroller. So we got the$159 pnp for $99:) Sweeeeet! I had to order the pnp because they were out of stock but they said it should be on the thursday shipment so I don't really have to wait much for it (not that I need it for a while). I'm excited to see it all set up though!


Another exciting thing is that my shower has been scheduled and invitations have been sent out! It's about a month away and I can't wait. I just can't wait to celebrate with everyone and see everyones faces when they see how big I am! I won't have seen a lot of the people at all during my pregnancy (or not since I started showing) so I know they're going to be like WHOA! I can't wait to see my little girl showered with love too. I know everyone is so excited to meet her so it's going to be fun to celebrate with people in anticipation of her arrival.

So for now here's my 26 week picture and the survey!


How far along? 26 weeks

Weight gain/loss: Up about 18lbs:(

Maternity clothes? All the time

Stretch marks? Nothing new, thankfully:)

Sleep? It's generally ok. My one side is sore and I'm always waking up to switch sides. And I get up at 4am every morning to pee:P

Best moment since last update? Having my moms feel her kicks:)

Food cravings: Chocolate Ice Cream

Gender: A girl!

Belly button in or out? In but its getting pretty shallow

Movement? She's still very active!

What I miss? Sleeping through the whole night

What I'm looking forward to: Baby shower!

Milestones: Double Digits!

V-Day!!

I've made it to V-Day... or 24 weeks! I really hope Petri stays put for another 16ish weeks but it's nice to know I've made it this far:) Here is a pic from today. My bump is definitely sticking out there!


So I've got lots of updates:) Since the anatomy scan, J and I went on a mini shopping spree. We went to Buy Bu.y Bab.y and I had so much fun! We finally decided between the city mini and city select (we went with the Mini) after playing with them both for a bit. We also got the craziest swing ever. It's called a Mama.roo and it's the only thing J has gotten SO excited about. It's not the most attractive thing but it will do and it doesn't take up much space, which I like:) So here is our new stroller and swing!


We toured 2 daycare centers and they were both fine but I was definitely underwhelmed. I'm not sure what I expected but I just wasn't feeling it. Either one of them would be fine to take Petri to and I know she'd be safe and well taken care of, I just was "blah" about them. My coworker told me about one of her friends that runs an in home daycare so we're checking it out on Wednesday. She's currently getting licensed which I love and she said that she has back up people in case she goes on vacation or has appointments to go to which is also really important. One of the reasons we were going to go with a center was so that we didn't have to deal with finding care for Petri last minute. So to not have to worry about that is awesome, especially since the in-home care is about $100 cheaper per week than the center's we've been looking at. So fingers crossed we like this place!

This past weekend I was in major nesting mode. Last weekend we cleaned out the nursery which was a huge project in itself but our way of cleaning it out was to take EVERYTHING out of the room and then go from there. We organized a bunch last weekend but all last week we still had a ton of stuff left in our living room to go through. So, I went through all that and since J and his friend were able to remove an old entertainment center I've been wanting to get rid of, I rearranged the room too. I feel like it's a lot more open now and we've got more room for baby "gear" if needed. We also put built-ins in our downstairs earlier this year (yay for no wires!) but it wasn't completely finished so the room has been a construction zone for the past few months. So, J spent saturday morning finishing up some of the last touches and I spent the afternoon/evening putting the room back together and putting together a new bookshelf that is sturdier and more baby friendly. Phew! It was a LOT of work both days and I'm definitely exhausted now but I'm so glad to have those 3 rooms (nursery and both living rooms) organized and cleaned out! We still have more to do but I think it can wait a week or 2. I don't want to do anything around the house this weekend, well, other than laying around and being lazy:P The other fun thing I did was make closet organizers. Its a completely unnecessary thing for the baby's room but it was a cheap, fun, and crafty project so I just went with it:) So here they are:)



And lastly, since it's been forever since I've done one, here's my 24 week survey!

How far along? 24 weeks

Weight gain/loss: Up about 18lbs:(

Maternity clothes? ALL the time. Just bought new bras too since I outgrew my old ones!

Stretch marks? Nothing new, thankfully:)

Sleep? I sleep ok but I wake up a lot throughout the night. I HATE sleeping on my side and always wake up sore:( It's worth it for the bebe though:)

Best moment since last update? I guess just viability day:)

Food cravings: None really

Gender: A girl!

Belly button in or out? In but its getting pretty shallow

Movement? All the time. She's such an active baby!

What I miss? Sleeping on my stomach

What I'm looking forward to: Doctor's appointment next week and my baby shower and getting more done to the nursery!

Milestones: Viability day today:)