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:)

Our little troublemaker!

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. We've been crazy busy this month and out of town every weekend. We've hit a bunch of milestones in baby growing land though:) First, I've made it to (and past) the 1/2 way mark of this pregnancy. It's so hard to believe I'm already at this point. I've dreamed of it but to actually be here just seems crazy. And like my pregnancy is flying by. Petri is growing and so is my belly. I feel huge now. I know I'll think I was so small at this point once I get closer to the end but for now I just feel enormous. Not uncomfortable (for the most part) thankfully, but BIG! Petri is moving and kicking around all the time now. I love feeling her and sometimes I lay on my back just to get her moving around some. I poke and prod at her constantly and J yells at me to stop because we'll end up with a scratch and dent baby:P I really can't help myself though. I feel like I could feel her kick from the outside tonight but it was hard to tell since I could feel it from the inside too. The doctor said only a couple more weeks until we should be able to. I can't wait for J to feel her. He talks to her and puts his hands on my belly and kisses "her" but I know he's just going to melt when he can feel her kick.

We're touring our first daycare center tomorrow. I'm excited and nervous and sad. I feel like she's already so grown up and she's not even born yet! We have another tour set up for Thursday and then I need to look into some in-home daycares as well. Hopefully we'll be able to make our decision and lock in a place sometime soon. It will be nice to have that checked off the list!

We started our registry a couple of weeks ago. We weren't planning to but we saw stuff we liked and had time so we started it. It's got pretty much everything on it but we still have a few decisions to make. The hardest one at the moment is the stroller. We're stuck between the City Mini and City Select. Both have their pros and cons and we just can't decide which one is the better option. We decided on a car seat which felt like a monumental decision too. I knew I wanted either a Chi.cco or Gra.co one but deciding which one was the better one for us required lots of playing around and testing out:P

So now for the story of Petri's anatomy scan:) I went in at 19w3d on J's birthday. We were SOOO exited to find out what we were having and to see her again. For the most part the tech was able to see everything she needed but Petri was positioned funny and she wasn't able to see certain parts of her heart, couldn't get a face profile shot, and couldn't see the cord insertion. After a good 1/2 hour of trying to get the measurements (and see if it was a boy or girl!), the tech had me get up and move around and use the restroom. Well when I laid back down, our little stinker pulled her legs up further and crossed her little feet! She wouldn't budge after that. Guess she was sleepy and just too cozy to cooperate:P We were happy to see her and see that from what the tech could tell, everything looked normal but we were really bummed about not being able to find out if she was a boy or girl. So when we got home that afternoon I made an appointment to have an elective ultrasound done the next morning. I drank some orange juice and gave her a good lecture about how she needed to spread those legs for the one and only time in her life:P She listened to her mommy and we found out she was a girl. The tech was so sure she said we could buy clothes, take the tags off and wash them! It was so cool to see her again but again, she was in a weird position and we couldn't see her face:( Oh well, at least we knew what to shop for!

Today was my follow up anatomy scan to get all the other measurements that they couldn't get before. Well Petri was WIDE awake today and moving all around. It was so cool to see. It's crazy how much I still can't feel. The scan was still about 40 minutes long because Petri didn't want to cooperate again. In the end the tech got everything she needed but it took about 10 minutes just to get the one shot of the heart she needed because every time she'd get close to getting it, Petri would move her arm down or move, or something like that. At one point, she completely flipped over! It was hilarious but I know we're in for a treat once she's born:P She's definitely got a little personality in there:)

Below are some pictures from today. We finally got the face profile shot and she's just adorable! I'm so in love!

It's a......... GIRL!

I have a ton of updates and a story to go along with this but I don't have time to write it yet. BUT, we found out last week we're having a GIRL! We're both SO excited and have been in planning/nesting overdrive since finding out:)

Here's a sneak peak at the nursery bedding we've picked out!







More updates coming later:)

19 Weeks:)

I can feel Petri kick now!!! I started feeling what felt like gas bubbles last week and I wasn't sure if it was Petri or gas. Well it's happening pretty consistently and in the same place sometimes so I'm pretty positive it's Petri. Also, I'm not THAT gassy:P I can really only feel it when I'm laying down so I look forward to laying in bed at night:) A couple of times I've been able to feel a really hard spot right below my belly button and I'm pretty positive it's Petri:) J's felt it too and the other day we tried to see if our cheapo crap doppler would work since he/she was RIGHT there but by the time we got the thing strapped on, Petri moved. Little rascal!:)

That's been the biggest development so far. I'm definitely showing a lot more now. I feel like it's obvious to strangers but no one has said anything yet. This weekend I bought a few things from Motherhood and they had one of those fake belly's in the dressing room. I couldn't resist! So below is a picture of me with the belly and a picture of me after dinner tonight. I always forget to take a picture BEFORE dinner because I feel like it makes such a difference. J says it's not that different though:P



It's finally time for my anatomy scan! We go in on Thursday morning and I can't wait. My mom is texting me with a countdown:P Everyone is so excited to find out what we're having. Finally can settle the bet between J and Kortnie too! Kortnie bets $20 it's a girl and J bets a boy. I just want to know who's right!


And for the weekly survey:
How far along?: 19 Weeks

*Total weight gain: Probably up 9-10. I hope not but I think I'm gaining a pound a week.

*How big is baby?: 8.5 inches long:) Size of a large heirloom tomato (whatever that is!)

*Sleep?: Good but starting to not be able to sleep on my stomach which is making things trickier.

*How are you feeling physically?: Great

*How are you feeling emotionally?: Excited!

*Best moment this week?: Feeling kicks:)

*Movement?: Yep! Pretty much every time I lay on my back

*Food cravings?: Just water actually...despite drinking it ALL DAY LONG

*Labor signs?: Thankfully nada!

*What I miss: Sweet tea!

*What I'm looking forward to: Anatomy scan in 3 days!

*Random Thoughts: Is this spider bite on my arm ok during pregnancy or should I call my OB?? It looks ok but it's pretty red around the bite area. J says its more than likely fine but to call if I get too paranoid:P

18 weeks!

I've been feeling more and more pregnant these days and I love it. I think I'm starting to feel kicks but I'm not totally sure yet. They've been happening too often to be gas so I'm pretty sure it's the baby:) I can't wait until I can tell for sure that it's Petri kicking me:) J also wants to point out that Petri is likely punching me too. I can also feel when Petri is at the front of my stomach area. I can feel the harder area and think it's so awesome that I can start to feel him/her. Its only in one position but I've felt it a couple of times now:) J doesn't like me pushing all over my stomach but I know Petri is well protected and I don't push that hard:P

In exactly one week we have our anatomy scan. I'm ecstatic. I'm also getting very impatient. I just can't wait to find out what we're having and I can't wait to make sure that Petri is A-ok. I'm trying not to be nervous about it because I have no reason to be nervous but every once in a while those scary thoughts consume me. Thankfully it's rare:) Since we're finding out on J's birthday, I'm not really sure what we're going to do the rest of the day. I'd love to go register that day but I don't want the day to be completely baby filled unless he wants it to be.

My friends/family have started talking about throwing me a baby shower. I'm excited for it and in disbelief that I'll get to have one of my own. I've been to so many and can't believe I'll finally have one for MY baby:) My friends and family are so excited for us and I know Petri will be loved immensely!

I signed up for birthing classes for August/Early September. I'm looking forward to them and hope that we get a lot out of it. I'm also going to sign up for a breastfeeding class as soon as one opens up.

I'll resume the survey next week but for now here's a picture from me at 17w6d. I'm counting it as my 18w picture though cause I forgot to take one on Monday:P