25 weeks

I haven't filled this out in a while, I think it is time! I can't believe we only have about 14 weeks left until Ethan is here!

How far along? 25 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: +7 pounds

Maternity clothes?jeans yes, I still need shirts but I'm waiting until it gets warmer and I have a substantial bump before I buy anything!

Sleep: I have accepted the fact that sleep is only going to get worse until Ethan is old enough to STTN ;) Between being uncomfortable and waking up so much to pee, I rarely feel well rested.

Best moment this week: our 2nd wedding anniversary is Monday (the 15th) but hubs is taking me to a fancy dinner tomorrow night! I can't wait to have some seafood :)

Movement: morning, noon & night. <--still the same. He is pretty predictable. He is definitely getting bigger & stronger and my whole belly moves when he does most of the time!
Food cravings: still sweets.

Gender: BOY!!! **Ethan Dale**

Labor Signs: none

Belly Button in or out? in

Stretchmarks? always there, long before I got pregnant

What I am looking forward to: my next appointment & ultrasound on the 26th!

Milestones: making it past V-day, and being married for 2 years :)


I'm starting to wonder if my belly will ever round out into a baby bump! I know I still have 14 1/2 weeks left (give or take) and that he still has a lot of growing left to do. I am sure I will be regretting this statement once it turns into a huge belly!

Let's talk about hormones...

I think it is to be expected that your hormones are all over the place during pregnancy. Most women will tell you this, and you expect to be hormonal. For some reason, I feel like my hormones are all kinds of out of whack lately. I feel like I am going crazy on a daily basis, and that I could have a nervous breakdown at any moment (which I did TWICE last week!)

My job has been very stressful lately, which is NOT helping matters. I work at an "Assisted Living" facility. I put it in quotations because it is turning into more of a nursing home. There are over 100 residents, 29 of which have some form of dementia/alzheimer's disease. I am the only nurse on the floor during my shifts. This means anything that goes wrong whether it be an illness, someone fell, or god forbid an emergency, I am THE ONLY NURSE there to handle it all. Yes, I knew this from the beginning, and before I got pregnant I could handle it pretty well. It seems as though things have been changing lately with the amount of residents that are moving in that I really don't feel are appropriate for our facility, but that decision is not mine to make. The #1 reason I like my job is because I work three days, 12 1/2 hour shifts and then I have 4 days off a week. This seems perfect for when Ethan is born. I work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday so I will only need child care for 2 of those days.

I like the people I work with (for the most part) and I hate starting over so I really don't want to leave. Not to mention the fact that it would be impossible for me to find a new job right now anyways seeing as I am with child and he will be here in about 15 weeks (holy crap!). I just keep hoping and praying things calm down so that I am not feeling this much stress every time I go to work, because being stuck in a stress filled place for 12 hours is not fun! I will just have to wait and see how it turns out and how I feel about returning there once Ethan is born. I want to do what is best for me, but also for him. I want him to have a happy mom at the end of the day!

This is going to be an extremely long post, so if you have read this far you are doing great! :) Back to the pregnancy hormones. The past few weeks I have had numerous crying episodes for no apparent reason. Today I feel like crying because I can't figure out how to move my husband's desk into our living room and still have room for all of our furniture. Silly, right? I just want everything to be PERFECT, and I am too much of a control freak. I realize not everything will be perfect, and Ethan won't know the difference anyway, but I will. I need to learn to calm down and let things happen the way they will, but I just don't see that happening anytime soon! I am praying daily for peace in my life, and I know God will help me through whatever I need. God bless my husband for putting up with my crazy, hormonal self! Only 15 more weeks right? ;)

On the move!

Baby Ethan has been on the move more and more lately! I started seeing his kicks last week, and could feel them on the outside. C has been waiting (not so patiently) to feel him kick as well. This morning we were cuddling in bed, and he had his hand on my bump (as always) and he finally felt Ethan kick! His face lit up, he was so excited! He wouldn't move his hand away for about 15 minutes and ended up feeling a few more kicks as well. It made for a great start to our day :) Only 15 1/2 weeks left, REALLY!? It seems like time is going by pretty quickly! I can't wait for our next appointment March 26, we get another ultrasound to see Ethan! :)

who needs to see their feet!

No survey this week, just pictures. I'll update after our appointment on Friday (if I remember :)

22 weeks

How far along? 22 weeks 1 day
Total weight gain/loss: +6 pounds, still down 5 from pre-pregnancy
Maternity clothes?jeans yes, I need to get some shirts!
Sleep: still not that great. I wake up 2-3 times a night to pee, and I'm generally uncomfortable on my side
Best moment this week: getting more clothes for baby boy!
Movement: morning, noon & night. Literally! He is becoming more predictable.
Food cravings: still sweets. Loving apple juice right now.
Gender: BOY!!! **Ethan Dale**
Labor Signs: none
Belly Button in or out? in
Stretchmarks? always there, long before I got pregnant
What I am looking forward to: my next appointment & ultrasound on the 26th!
Weekly Wisdom: Just say no to Google.
Milestones: making it yet another week!

Now for the picture. Definitely getting bigger!

teeny, tiny baby clothes

We started shopping for this baby once we knew he was a boy! We planned a trip with my in-laws to go to Seattle and shop for baby Ethan. We hit quite the sale at The Children's Place! We got most things for $2.99, and then found a nice winter jacket for $9.99! We obviously got bigger sizes (mainly 6-9mths) because that is when he will fit into them (hopefully)!
We also went to the Carter's Outlet and found a few cute outfits as well. I was excited because we had a few cute outfits for Ethan! Well, we go over to in-laws house every Sunday for dinner. This past Sunday as soon as we walked in the door my MIL says "Ohhhh we went shopping again, we were too excited and couldn't pick just one!" She proceeded to hand me 4 outfits! Ethan is a spoiled boy and not even out of my womb yet! Here is a picture of the rest of the clothes we have accumulated so far. (Most of the clothes in these pictures were purchased by my in-laws, they are so generous!)
They are not to greatest pictures because I had to take them with my cell phone. C did something with my camera and I can't find it! Needless to say, in-laws are VERY excited as this will be their first grandchild! They also offered to buy our car seat and stroller for us, which is beyond generous! We have been researching for awhile now, and couldn't decide if we wanted a travel system, or the snap-n-go stroller. We finally decided on a travel system (even though the car seat and stroller have to be bought separately with what we chose). We know we will want a full-size stroller eventually, so why not just get it now? (especially if someone else is buying it for us!). We are going with the Baby Trend Columbia Infant Car Seat and Baby Trend Columbia Stroller . We are not going with the typical jogging stroller because the reviews weren't as good, and neither of us jog anyways :) We love the colors in this set and thing it is also neutral enough that if we have a girl in the future it will work!

I know people are very opinionated when it comes to car seats & strollers, and some people chose to spend tons of $$ on them. I did not feel right asking for something that was so expensive (like the Chicco travel system which I LOVE). I am very happy with what we have chosen and can't wait to see it in person! I had to do all of my research and shopping online because I live next to a small city and the selection is minimal at best. I am excited that we are finally making decisions about what we want! Next up will be his nursery, but since we live in an apartment right now, there isn't much we can do. We can't paint which makes me sad, but we can at least hang stuff on the walls. If anyone has any ideas for how to decorate without spending a ton of money, I would appreciate the help!

Halfway there!