Fourteen Weeks

I'm fourteen weeks along today!

Size
lemon

Developments
developing fine hair-lanugo-all over the body
can make facial expressions
kidneys are producing urine
arms and legs now proportional to body

Heartbeat
157 bpm (as of 2/14/11)

Cravings
Nothing in particular

Weight Loss/Gain
Gained 3 lbs (as of 2/14/11)
Up 1 lb total


First belly pic:
I'm just now starting to show, but in all honesty, this was taken right after dinner. :)

As some of you know, I've been blogging for a long time. I started in May 2004 and was pretty consistent for a few years. The last couple of years have been harder for me to find time and inspiration to blog, but it's definitely a goal of mine, especially with the baby on the way. I really love reading those old blog entries from my first couple of years. Blogging is such a valuable thing because it's a keeper for so many memories that would be completely forgotten otherwise. Part of me hates that I started a new blog, but I just felt like starting a fresh blog might give me a fresh desire to start blogging again.

Just because this blog is a "family" blog, it doesn't mean it's only going to be about our family. I still want a place to talk about things that are important to me, things that are completely trivial, things that are funny, and things that have happened that maybe aren't so great. There's no way that I can keep up with both blogs on a regular basis, though, so while this blog is about our family, it's still mine...and sometimes Lucas will show up with a post, too.

All that to bring me to this. My blog friend Leslie is hosting a series of Wednesday topics to blog about. Today's topic is "A Day in the Life." So, for all you who wanted to know, here's what a typical day looks like for me. I can't wait to see how this changes once our little one is here!

Monday-Friday:
5:00- Alarm begins going off. I begin hitting snooze.
5:40- Finally drag myself out of bed and into the shower. Lucas takes the pups out to potty.
6:00- Get out of the shower. Get back in bed for 20-30 minutes to "let my hair dry a bit" while watching News 8 Daybreak.
6:30- Dry and fix hair. Regret ever cutting bangs.
6:50- Try to figure out what on earth to wear and get dressed.
7:00- Hear Good Morning America come on and rush down the stairs.
7:03- Try to pack some kind of decent lunch and get something laid out for dinner.
7:12- Head out the door and pray the traffic won't be bad.
7:30- Arrive at school just in time (on a good day.)
7:40- Eat breakfast while checking email.
7:45-12:00- Work. Do whatever needs to be done for the day. Tech stuff, book ordering, teacher collaboration, storytime, you name it.
12:00- Eat lunch. Read blogs. Realize that I never put my makeup on.
12:30-3:30- Do more work as mentioned above.
3:30-3:45- Try to get things wrapped up so I can leave.
3:45- Leave school! (Sometimes this happens closer to 4:00 or after.)
3:55- Monday- Grocery Store, Wednesday- Chiropractor, Some Fridays- Visit grandparents
4:00 or 5:00- Arrive home. Eat snack. Wait for Paula Deen to come on TV. Waste time that I could be using to nap.
5:00- Begin working on dinner. It will almost certainly be something grilled, slow cooked, or boiled.
5:45- Lucas gets home. Dogs begin play fighting under my feet because they're SO EXCITED!
6:00- Eat dinner while watching the news. Dogs beg for food.
6:15- Lucas does dishes, I sit on couch.
6:30-9:00- Watch TV, do homework, work on blogs, sometimes go for a walk. This varies. Not by much, though. We're pretty boring.
9:00- Head up to bed. Sometimes this happens closer to 10:00, but I shoot for 9:00.
9:30- In bed, reading Bible on iPad.
9:45- Lucas lays down and immediately falls asleep.
Various times- Get up to go to the bathroom. At least twice. Thanks, baby!

The weekends are a little less scheduled, but just as busy. Saturdays are mostly used for homework and shopping, Sundays are church all day, with the exception of a couple hours in the afternoon. So there you have it. A day in the life of me! Exciting stuff, I know. I'm really ready for the summer, wherein this schedule will change dramatically. At that point, I will be doing mostly homework, a good amount of swimming, and trying to stay cool.

Thirteen Weeks

I'm thirteen weeks along today!

Size
peach

Developments
fingerprints have formed
veins and organs are visible through skin
head is 1/3 of the size of the body
If baby is a girl, she already has over two million eggs in her ovaries.

Heartbeat
157 bpm (as of 2/14/11)

Cravings
Fruit Snacks

Weight Loss/Gain
Gained 3 lbs (as of 2/14/11)
Up 1 lb total

I know we're a little late in posting this, but I figured better late than never. It's been a busy week, so Lucas hasn't been able to get to the ultrasound video yet. Once he does, we'll add it to this post. There isn't a whole lot to see, though, because our baby decided that it didn't really want to wake up for this last appointment. Can't be bothered for trivial things like that, obviously. :) I hadn't eaten much for lunch that day, and it had been several hours before the appointment, so the doctor said to make sure that I eat something before the next appointment and also to drink a coke while I'm waiting for her. She thinks that will get the little one moving around. Once again, though, there was a good, strong heartbeat and everything looked good. Our baby is growing!

We elected not to have the Quad Screen done, or any other tests that would give us a possible heads up to anything like Spina Bifida, Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 18. We believe that our baby is going to be perfectly healthy, but even if something did happen to be "wrong," nothing would change on our end. Also, we've had friends get a false positive on this test and it is heartbreaking to have to go through those days of uncertainty until further testing results are received. Our doctor got a false positive on this test for her second child and she told us that it just ruined the joy of that pregnancy and also made her very anxious during her third. We had already made up our mind not to do it, but that just gave us even more confirmation that we were making the right decision. All that to say that even though baby was super lazy, it was laying on it's tummy, so we got a great view of the spine. Dr. Staud was able to measure something on the spine (or at least in that general area) and said that it was one of the things the doctor would've checked for when doing the quad screen. When she measured it, she said it was at a 2, which was perfect. Anything over a 3.5 is an indicator for Down Syndrome, so it was very nice to hear that our number is much lower than that.

After the appointment, we came home and made our announcement to the Facebook world! I also emailed the teachers at my school as well as alot of the ones from my old school to let them know. It was so nice to finally be able to let people know. It makes it much more real. Our next appointment is on March 10th, our anniversary, and at that appointment, we should be able to find out if baby is a boy or a girl!

Here is the best ultrasound picture from our last appointment.

Today is the day! We are finally able to announce to the world our good news! Welcome to all of my friends/readers from my other blogs, Song of my Life and Pink Armchair Designs!

Twelve Weeks

I'm twelve weeks along today!

Size
lime

Developments
reflexes developing
intestines moving from umbilical cord into abdomen
nerve cells multiplying
brain synapses forming

Heartbeat
184 bpm (as of 1/31/11)

Cravings
Fruit Juice, Baked Potatoes

Weight Loss/Gain
Lost 2 lbs (as of 1/31/11)

Eleven Weeks

I'm eleven weeks along today!

Size
fig

Developments
teeth buds appear under gums
bones hardening
diaphragm forming
lots of kicking and moving

Heartbeat
184 bpm (as of 1/31/11)

Cravings
Strawberries

Weight Loss/Gain
Lost 2 lbs

As you saw from the previous post, Monday was an exciting day baby-wise! We were so thrilled to see how big our sweet baby is getting! Although she/he is only a little over an inch, all of its little parts are developing and actually look like a real baby! Between this appointment and the next, the baby will double in size, so we can't wait to see what it looks like next time! Hopefully Baby T will be a bit more cooperative and a bit less like a baby bat- sleeping while hanging upside down- so we can really see all of it's sweet little parts very clearly. I can't wait to see that face!

I was very happy to find out at the appointment that I had actually lost a couple of pounds from the first appointment. Not that I'm trying to lose weight, obviously, but the shift from Weight Watchers to eating normally has been difficult and I was really worried that I was going to gain alot. On top of the weight loss, my blood pressure was at 116/68, which is probably the lowest it's ever been in a doctor's office! I was feeling good, though, and not worried at all, so I know that contributed to a normal BP reading. Hopefully we can keep it at that level all the way through the pregnancy! I've known plenty of people who've had to go on bedrest due to blood pressure, and I'm claiming good BP now and that I will not be one of those people!

Ever since our exciting doctor visit, we've been iced in. Baby T is getting to experience his/her first snow day at a little less than 11 weeks old! We've had plenty of cuddle time with the pups and lots of good napping. Tomorrow will be day three of being iced in and I'm not too hopeful for work on Friday at this point. The temps are just too cold for the ice to melt. It was 10 degrees this morning! Good thing baby is still inside, nice and warm!

Second Dr Appointment

What a very cool doctor visit. The baby was sound asleep when we were trying to look at it, but the doctor had some tricks and it woke up and started wiggling around. Very fun to see. The video speaks for itself. Only another 6 weeks or so and we should be able to find out whether it's a boy or girl. But, as you'll hear from the video, that might be a little difficult. Here's one of the sonogram pictures. The baby is standing on its head right now, and you can see the legs crossed at the top.

And, here's the baby actually jumping around for us a bit, but not without some convincing. Sorry for the poor quality. If you want the HD version, gotta come to our house. :-)