20 weeks! Gimme toasted raviolis!

Holy crap sack we have officially hit the half way mark!!

It seems pretty unreal that in 20 more weeks (give or take a few) we will be holding the newest member of our little family. I think I keep saying this but....what an overwhelming feeling that is.

To mark this halfway milestone, how 'bout a little Pregnancy FAQ?! That is Frequently Asked Questions that I have been asked by those who love me (and ones who don't even know me but feel they should ask since it's common to ask during a woman's pregnancy) :)

Q: The most common one..... How far along are you?
A: Well since I'm a little behind on the 'ole bloggy.....right now I'm 21 weeks and 4 days or if you're more of the month counter....I'm in my 5th month.

Q: First question is always followed up by.... How are you doing and/or how have you been feeling?
A: Actually, really really good. I feel beyond blessed that I've had a really good pregnancy so far. I have some minor aches and pains to complain about like....round ligament pains that come and go, leg cramps in my calves that wake me up at night a couple times a week, restless leg stuff that happens every now and then when I'm sitting at my desk at work all day, and maybe a couple other "unmentionables"......but seriously I feel like those are so minor in comparison to what I could be experiencing (and the horrors I know from other women) that I try not to complain too much. And honestly, I do feel really good. I'm actually feeling pregnant now and I get to feel the baby kick and move every day. It's such an awesome thing to know that what I put in my body is going to the nourishment of our baby. How cool is that? Whether it's true or not is debatable, but I also like to think that the love, energy, and outlook on life also fills our baby too. I definitely have insecurities about pregnancy, becoming a mom, and just my own personal ones but I say this with absolute truth.....I have never in my life felt more strong, confident, capable, independent, womanly, and full of love. I don't necessarily think it should take being pregnant for a woman to know she's capable of some really incredible things (we should figure that out way before, ladies!), but it's what it has done for me so far. That being said, I've heard and read that the 2nd trimester gives you all these warm and fuzzy feelings about pregnancy and baby and by the time the 3rd trimester rolls around....you are tired, swollen, huge, and at the end ready to get that baby the.ef.out. So for now I will bask in the gloriousness that is the 2nd trimester and continue to hope I can hold on to the beautiful things being pregnant has taught me so far. :)  My belly is starting to change more by the day and although I'm still in the "danger zone" of a stranger asking me if I'm pregnant.....people who know me can tell that I am. Don't worry though....I have a plan for the first stranger who asks me when I'm due or if I'm pregnant. I plan to look horribly offended and tell them I don't know what they're talking about. If I can hold out long enough to see their face go pale (or red, or green) I may tell them I'm just joking after that, but come on if I just stormed off....they would tell that story for years to come as their most embarrassing moment!!

Q: Everyone's favorite to ask.......Are you having any weird cravings?
A: Really I haven't had any cravings throughout the last 20 weeks! Well, at least I haven't had any consistent cravings. Aversions? Ha, that's a different story but I'll get to that later. The first trimester I suppose I "craved" salty things. Mostly because that was the only thing I could think about eating that didn't make me want to gag. Plain baked Lays chips....McDonald's salt with dash of fries thrown in.....baked potato heavy on the salt hold everything else....movie theatre popcorn....yes, now we're talkin'. Sugar, chocolate, or anything sweet.....wasn't havin' it. Someone told me the salt thing meant I was having a boy, but everyone has their "theories", right? :) (Sidenote: Please know that I ate more than just chips, potatoes, and salt in my first trimester. It wasn't fun eating anything else...but I did it.) I started feeling better around Week 14ish and found myself wanting to eat more things. But it really wasn't until around 18 weeks that I felt like I really got my appetite back and in full force. Luckily one thing that always sounds good to me (and apparently to baby too) is fruit. I don't think I've ever had as much fruit as I do now. Grapes, strawberries, kiwis, honeycrisp apples, and cuties are "our" favorite. I think it's the juiciness that really gets me excited. Yummmm. I'm eating grapes as I type this. I've never been a huge fan of Greek yogurt, but I've been eating a crap-ton of that lately too. I try to be fairly healthy with my snacking (considering I'm eating about every 2 hours)....but I have to say chips and anything crunchy are also a favorite. Last week I had two cravings (I guess they were cravings?) that I got worked up about. KitKat bar one day and toasted raviolis another day. I was at the grocery store that same day so I was able to grab the candy in the checkout but toasted ravioli? Has it gone extinct? Chad and I went to 2 different grocery stores looking for toasted ravioli in the frozen food section, AND searched local Italian restaurants online menus to see if they served it. All to no avail. I haven't had any specific craving last longer than a day so I wasn't too concerned about it....until it stayed with me all week. I think it was because I didn't satisfy it. But this weekend while at Target, we found some! Sort of! I say sort of because it was toasted ravioli....just not the meat kind inside. It was cheese, basil, and saucy on the inside. But it most definitely satisfied what I was looking for. I know what you're thinking, "why didn't you just buy the pasta ravioli kind and bread and fry it yourself at home?" Simply put....because that's more work than I wanted to do. I needed it immediately at my disposal. What I really could have gone for was Guthrie, Missouri's own Tonanzio's toasted ravioli's. You Missouri folk know what I'm talkin' about. YUMMMM.

Crap, now I'm hungry. I'll get back to more Pregnancy FAQ in the next post.

xo,
Brooke

19 weeks.

Hello 19 weeks, nice to meet you.

19 weeks brought on a couple of new things. I had some restless nights early this week because I couldn't get myself comfortable enough to sleep for very long. I was having some round ligament pains (at least that's what my doc called them) and couldn't seem to get me or my belly comfortable. After 2 nights of this, I was thinking, "Holy crap, isn't it too early to be unable to sleep? What's going to happen in a few more months when I'm much bigger?" Luckily, that was just for a couple nights and I've been feeling much more "normal" again since then. I was thinking I was probably just doing a lot of stretching on the inside during those couple of days and I think I confirmed those suspicions on Tuesday. A month ago my sister Tracy mailed me a pregnancy tape measure that you wrap around your belly and mark each week as you grow. (She claims since she can't physically see me every day, she needs a number to go by to track how much her "niece is stretching her baby sister's belly." She's not certain it's a girl in there but she's sure keeping her fingers crossed...) Well between week 18 and 19 I measured a whole inch bigger. It was at that point that I decided I'm not too sure I want to keep doing this weekly measurement....maybe it would be better not knowing the numbers... haha :)

I also feel baby kick/punch/move every day and usually multiple times every hour. I'm not going to lie...when I was feeling those movements the days I was having some pains, they kind of freaked me out. Everything in there was sensitive and I was worried each new movement I felt meant something was wrong. Once I started feeling better later, I found myself definitely welcoming those kicks and movements. It makes me smile. Chad has now felt baby 3-4 different times. :) He likes to have his hands on my belly. And so do I. Ever since I told him the baby had developed hearing in there and could start hearing things and eventually recognize voices...he likes to talk to the baby through the "talk hole" aka my belly button. He tells the little nugget secrets. :)

xo,
Brooke

18 weeks.

I'm about 2 weeks behind so I'm gonna try to wrap the last few weeks up quickly here...but so much has happened and once I start writing I just keep going and going....

18 weeks!!! It's the start of month 5!! Woot woot!!

Exciting stuff happened in week 18. My parents celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary on March 6th and we had our anatomy ultrasound the same day. Because we decided we're waiting until Baby J's birthday to find out the sex...our main concern on the 6th was to see a healthy baby in there. And we definitely did. *big sigh of relief* :) I've realized it doesn't matter what stage of your pregnancy you're in, you never get tired of hearing someone tell you everything looks good and healthy in there. All baby's parts and organs seem to be growing right on track and we're still measuring for the same due date...August 5th. :)

We spent March 1-4 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. :) Oh man...what a great trip. We had such a GREAT time with my family. We were there for my cousin Lacey's wedding on the 3rd and stayed at a beautiful resort with everyone. That deserves a whole post on its own...so I'll work on that next. :)

I think my favorite moment of pregnancy (to date and okay...probably besides the morning I found out I was pregnant!) happened during week 18. I had been feeling what I thought was the baby moving/kicking since week 16, but it would come and go and I couldn't decide if the feeling was really baby or not. Well those "feelings" got stronger right before our trip to the DR and I realized those flutters were definitely not me, my belly, or indigestion....but the predator that resides inside of me. (Yes, I lovingly call the baby 'Predator' now too. Don't worry, it's only in the most endearing way.) I didn't feel much while we were on vacation which made me worry a little at the end of each day. That was until the day we got back and I started feeling baby all the time and all throughout the day. :) I realized I probably wasn't feeling as much because I was distracted most of every day and hanging out with my family, playing on the beach, and swimming in the ocean. Nice distractions, huh? Anyway, back to my new favorite moment. After eating Chad's favorite dinner that I make (Ranch Chicken...yummy) on Thursday the 8th we were sitting on the couch when I started feeling the predator going crazy in my belly. I had my hand resting on my belly when for the first time I felt a kick on the outside....I panicked and told Chad to put his hand there and right after he did he felt the biggest kick even I had ever felt up until that point. He screamed like a little girl (if you know him, you know this scream well) and started cracking up. I cried because it made me so happy. Baby then proceeded to show off by doing some crazy flip or roll or something weird in there. And Chad got to feel all of that too. It is so weird to feel something like that from the inside and the outside. Feeling a human move inside you and know that it's a human....well, it's pretty indescribable. I imagine that gets even crazier when you can see a foot, hand, leg, or butt poking out of your belly... 


Hence where the nickname came from. It was either 'Alien' or 'Predator' and we prefer the ring of Predator. Our precious little innocent baby Predator. :)

What's crackalackin' mom? 

xo,
Brooke