26 weeks - Baby room progress

26 Weeks!

What do you mean I look really tired in this week's picture? Oh, that's because I was. And I am. It doesn't really help that we take the weekly picture just before bed.....but on this particular day it wouldn't have mattered when we did it. Chad was out of town again this weekend so I had the house, tv, and bed to myself again. What's that? It sounds like I enjoy him being gone? That's not entirely true..... I really do miss him when he's gone and anxiously wait by the door like a happy little puppy whose owner has been at work all day when he comes home. BUT...having a little alone time every now and then is really nice and refreshing.

This week there were some really exciting developments made in Baby Jo's room. Last week Chad painted the whole room in preparation for another paint project I've had my eye on for quite some time. Luckily he did this himself because I was pretty much gagging from the moment he poured the paint from the container. He just shut himself inside the room while I ran some errands and hung out at a friend's place and worked on a video project. He did a really good job and the color was just what I was going for. I switched for a lighter grey at the last minute and am really glad I did because it ended up coming out darker than I thought it would. Any darker and baby's room might get a little "dungeon-y." People ask me a lot, "How are you decorating the room since you don't know the sex?" The honest answer is...exactly like I would have done it if I knew baby was a girl and exactly like I would want it for a boy. I'm really not into the whole pink is for girls and blue is for boys thing. And I don't like that even infant boys get cool animal, sports, and nature stuff while girls are stuck with pretty ribbons, bows, and frilly stuff. I'll break some "rules" and follow the same practice when dressing my little person too. I may eat my words when I have strangers telling me what a pretty little girl I have (and it's a boy) or what a handsome little boy he is (and it's a girl). But ya know, I'll probably get that either way because I was born a baldy and pretty much stayed that way until I was like 3. So if baby is a girl...bows and ponytails probably won't be in our future for a good couple of years. We really haven't bought much clothes for baby yet but here are a couple of outfits that neither Chad or myself could say no to........(pictures taken a month or 2 ago, as evidenced by the size of my belly...)

Yes, I would put a girl in this too! Obviously this will be the first outfit baby wears to visit Daddy at work. :)

"I was born awesome." Yes, yes you were.

I'm soooo excited about the project Donna and I did in the room this weekend. And when I say "Donna and I" I mostly mean Donna. (Sidenote: Donna is my sister in law.) I told her exactly what I pictured in my head (but wasn't really sure we could make it happen), gave her some pictures as a reference, provided her with wine and home cooked food for the day, hung out with her kids and made a lemonade stand on our street, and she did the rest. It turned out so much better than I even imagined! I know I'm partial and all, but it's so damn cute I can't even handle it. I'm not going to show everything until the room is all finished but here are a few sneak peaks.....

Baby daddy working on the room. :)

If your guess is Donna's making prison bars....you're correct! Chad and I prefer our baby to feel trapped in this family.

This also has a special meaning to us. I'll explain sometime later. :)

The cute lemonade stand in our driveway. They made $8.50 for the day...not bad! Sidenote: Yes that's a tip jar you also see on the table there. :)

Up next for the room....painting the inside of the closet, building closet shelving, getting the crib set up and into the room, and picking up the glider when it comes in! We ordered the chair for the room about a month ago but it takes a long time for it to come in. I'm really excited about its arrival, we should get a call in another 3 weeks or so saying we can pick it up! Granted, our little 2 bedroom place is pretty small and there aren't a lot of rooms to choose from....but baby's room is quickly becoming my favorite room in the house. It's just so fun to imagine a tiny little baby in there with us. :)

xo,

Brooke

25 weeks - "Donald Trump is a pervert" and other 100% true facts.

25 weeks!

Dern...I'm 2 weeks behind!

I've recently noticed a trend in my weekly pictures........I never have the same hair! I was looking through a lot of them and seeing how much my belly (ie sweet baby) has been growing. I definitely feel like we have done some serious growing over the past 4 weeks! I don't post them, but every week we also take a "topless" pic too (not completely topless, I have a sports bra on you sicko!) You can see my belly changing even more in those. Maybe towards the end of the pregnancy I'll make a little video for those.....

Week 25 has come and gone two weeks ago now so let me think back to that week...
Chad was out of town for the weekend at a friend's bachelor party so I had the house to myself. I usually don't sleep well when he's gone and wasn't really looking forward to the empty bed........but holy crapsack. Turns out my pregnant self doesn't mind the bed to myself at all! I'm usually a pretty heavy sleeper but since my belly has started growing and putting pressure on places I'm not used to, I find myself waking up a lot. And when Chad even thinks about moving during the night to roll over or whatever, I wake up. After the first night alone, I found myself waking up the next morning really excited about going to bed later that night. It was such good sleep all weekend! haha. Sorry honey, I still love sleeping with you and was glad to have you back several nights later.....just be happy for me that I slept so well while you were gone. :)

Also the last weekend in April was two of my favorite guy's birthdays. Chad turned 28 and my dad turned (an undisclosed number.) :) Since I didn't get to hang out with either one on their birthday, I celebrated by going to a spa and getting a facial. I had a really good day. I took the train about 20 minutes north to the salon, got my facial, and was strolling along the downtown area when realized I missed the train home that I meant to take. And what do I find by the train station when I need to kill an hour during lunch time? An adorable Italian restaurant with outdoor seating and it was a beautiful day outside. Yes please. I would have loved a glass of white wine with my yummy shrimp pasta while sitting outside people watching basking in the sun.....but hey, "beggars can't be choosers" and "people who are making humans who have a great alone time day can't be complaining when they got a facial and their swollen sausage feet just got a rubdown." I feel like that's a saying, right? I should have known how awesome that day was going to be when I made a "friend" on the train there who plopped down in the seat next to me and I had the most interesting conversation I've had in a while. Well I use the word 'conversation' loosely because it was mostly him asking me the most random questions and telling me the most random things. Here are some of the things my friend had to say:

(one of the first things he said to me)
Friend: Do you know who Donald Trump is? You know, the guy on The Apprentice show and owns the hotels and stuff?
Me: Yeah.
Friend: Did you know he also owns the Miss Universe Pageant?
Me: Yes, I knew that.
Friend: He's such a pervert.
Me: (laughing)
Friend: He really is. I tell him that all the time. I should ask him for some money. He's my cousin.
(I should also mention here that this is a Hispanic man in his 50s, smells like he's been drinking since last Tuesday, sounded like he was near a heart attack, and carrying a pint of Vodka in his back pocket. Did I mention I'm on a 10am train?)

Friend: Do you think there's a law saying you have to wear a flower in your hair when you go to San Francisco?
Me: Ummmmmm.....no, I don't think so.
Friend: Well there should be.

Friend: You ever watch Three's Company?
Me: Yeah I used to watch that show all the time.
Friend: Jack is such an asshole.
Me: Alright.
Friend: What about Jeopardy? You watch that?
Me: Not really.
Friend: Well if you did you'd know what a jerk Alex is too.

Friend: (after seeing my protruding belly) Oh, you're pregnant?
Me: Yes.
Friend: You're never gonna believe this. (long pause and looks around to make sure no one else hears) I am too. So we have that in common.
Me: Oh alright. That's cool.

15 seconds later.....
Friend: Remember when I told you I was pregnant a long time ago?
Me: Yes.....
Friend: I was lying. I don't know why I told you that.

He left to go make new friends before I got off. I made eye contact with the girl across the aisle from me and we just started cracking up. She tells me "sorry, I know he didn't smell good and that probably wasn't very fun for you but that was awesome." Yes, yes it was.

I love riding the train.

24 weeks - Choices

24 weeks

What. A. Week.
Man am I glad it's Friday. The weather has been beautiful here all week and I've been stuck inside! I need some serious fresh air and sunshine!! On top of working my normal 40 hour week at my job, I came home every night to head straight to my computer to work on editing a video I'm making for a theatre company. Which is both good and bad really.....Good because I really love making videos and editing them makes me happy, in fact I wish it was my full time job. (Maybe some day?) But bad because the sound gave me a lot of trouble, I was up til midnight every night trying to get it finished, and after I did (complete with a DVD menu, preview, and 2 hour full length performance) I realized it's 5.2GB and standard DVDs hold 4.7GB. Yeah, not my happy face! I went out and bought a new pack of special DVDs that hold more space....only to find that the writer on my laptop isn't compatible with it. After reading a post like Hot Mess Lane, you'd think I'd freak out about it right? Surprisingly enough, I didn't and haven't. I was actually kind of amused about the situation in the end and completely kept my cool. (What do you mean you're shocked??) :) But really, what can you do? Some things are out of your control and you work really hard, do your best, and it's still not right. I swear sometimes I think this kid knows when I'm feeling down or am stressed about something....because I always seem to get a kick/punch/right hook/jab/roll just when I need it. Like a little reminder saying, "Hey, cut it out! Remember me? I'm healthy and growing really strong in here, how lucky are you?? So just relax and smile right now. And give me some popcorn."  And the little nugget is right. (Don't tell her I said that in the future, because I'll have to be right about everything else in his life later on. See how I did that double switch there? I do this all the time. It confuses people.) Honestly I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am that being on a deadline to make this video was the biggest stress in my world this week. There are people with no job, health issues out of their control, addictions, divorces, no family support, not sure how they're going to feed their kids tomorrow, infertility.....the list could go on and on. But we all have one thing in common. Every month, week, day, minute, and second we all get a choice. We get to choose our mood, reactions, and responses to everything. Isn't that cool? It doesn't matter what you're going through and how out of your control your situation is....YOU get to decide that. And your choices are not always going to be good or even the right ones, we're all human after all. But YOU, get to to make that choice. No one gets to take that away from you or decide for you. And to me the more you are aware of that choice we all have, the better choices you're going to make for yourself and everyone around you. Besides my sweet little baby helping me with that perspective, I think the beautiful Miss Avery helps too.

Anywhooo just a few thoughts on this lovely Friday afternoon, sorry it got real there for a minute..... :)

I'm still working on a solution for the video and hopefully I've figured something out, we'll see. Tonight I'll be back at the theatre to record another play, this time a children's production. I went to the rehearsal last night, I have to say it's pretty cute. I'm excited to have another project to work on and excited to meet more people who might be interested in the video services I have to offer!

Have a good weekend!! Bring on the outdoors! Oh, and I guess a little bit of the indoors too since we're registering at Target this weekend..... :)
xoxo

23 Weeks - Yesterday's Menu

23 weeks:

What did I eat yesterday you ask? Well.......

• bowl of oatmeal 
• a cutie and some grapes
• a granola bar (um the chocolate chip kind, not the healthy kind)
• In-N-Out cheeseburger no onions and well done fries (omg it was gooooood, haven't had In-N-Out since I've been pregnant!)
• s'more Pop Tart
• a handful of Sweetarts
• another cutie
• leftover pizza

Oopsie, bad mommy.  :) 

22 weeks - Hot Mess Lane

Make some noise for 22 weeks! :) 1st week of our 6th month!

Shit's about to get real here folks. As I've mentioned about a billion times already on this blog.....I love being pregnant. It's been a really awesome and fun transition for me so far. I just LOVE that I'm carrying our baby and I get to feel the little thing kick and squirm and move all day. Most days and moments are just rainbows and unicorns in my life right now.

Last Thursday was not one of those nights.

I'm only blogging about this because I can laugh about it now and well, I'm trying to give all you people a "real" sense of my pregnancy and what not so here goes. I've had a few let's call them "emotional outbursts" throughout the last 4 months but I'd like to elaborate on the two most memorable.

Let's first back up to sometime in early February. I was having a particularly annoying day at work, wasn't feeling well after lunch, and trying to hustle home after work to meet Chad and head down to Santa Cruz for book club and dinner. I'm not sure what exactly set this into motion (maybe it was a song on the radio in my car? a thought that popped into my head? general stress and hormones? who knows.) but by the time I pulled into the driveway I was just a plain hot mess. Uncontrollably sobbing. Ugly crying. Whimpering. Poor Chad didn't know what hit him when he greeted me at the door. I didn't even know what hit me. All I managed to say was "It was a really bad drive home." The next 20 minutes or so consisted of me crying out my mascara all over his white shirt while he held me in the kitchen and I mumbled a bunch of things that didn't make much sense. I can tell you that I was upset because: I felt guilty because I was having a healthy pregnancy and felt like I wasn't thankful enough for it; at the same time felt overwhelming gratitude for the life I have and the little tiny baby growing in me; was crazy homesick from my family and was sad I'm not physically around them to share the experience; wanted my mommy and was feeling very appreciative of how my parents raised me; in a fun added twist I was freaking out about how I don't know what I'm doing and am going to be a shitty mom and won't do the right things that my parents did for me; and then "omg, what if I accidentally drop the baby?! I probably will. Oh my goodness Chad, one of us is seriously going to drop the baby. Then when the kid is older someone will say 'were you dropped as a baby or something?' and we'll KNOW, Chad!!! Yes, we did drop the baby!! Oh no, will we tell them we dropped them or just keep it from them their whole life?! This is really bad Chad, it's really bad." Chad tried to keep his laughter under his breath but the dropping the baby thing really set him over the edge. He was laughing as hard as I was crying. I knew how crazy I was being. It didn't matter though. Hormones make you do/think/feel some weird things. I was even laughing sometimes between sobs and apologizing for being such a wreck for no real reason other than I just needed to get it out. Needless to say, we did not make it to Santa Cruz and I spent the majority of the night silently crying on the couch in the fetal position.

Fast forward to last week. Everything was going so well...I'm not sure what happened. I didn't sleep well the night before, I was up from 2-3am because a certain someone that resides in me decided it was playtime and proceeded to dance, swim, kick, punch, and roll while I tried to sleep. But I mean seriously...could I be mad at that? I was feeling my baby move inside of me, and I'm fairly certain that will not get old. I woke up with a sore back and decided I should stay in bed a little longer and go into work late. Because I'm trying to save up as much sick and vacation time as possible for my maternity leave, I've rarely taken any time throughout my pregnancy so far so this was a nice treat. :) I took a long shower, ate a little breakfast and got to work around 11am. Thursdays are my favorite day of the work week because I go to my prenatal yoga class straight from work. I seriously love love that class. I wish I could go to it every day. Okay, maybe every day would be too much but like 3 times a week would probably be good. So I go there, have a great class and leave feeling refreshed and ready. (For childbirth, for being a good mother and wife, for a fire-breathing dragon I may encounter on my drive home....it doesn't matter, Marti gets you in a zone to believe you can do anything. Goodness she's great.) I get home, have a great Skype date with Tracy while I cook in the kitchen and Chad hangs out with us. I think that's the part I went wrong. It was 8pm, I was starting dinner and it was going to take me about an hour start to finish. And I ate a plum as a snack around 5:30pm. But of course I was set on making some delicious tomato basil soup and garlic bread. (And seriously, it really did turn out awesome. I think I got the recipe on Pinterest but I can't find it right now. I'll post it later if I find it again.) Everything was going so well....until it came to using my immersion blender. I couldn't figure out I wasn't patient enough to get the piece on the end of it and barked the order at Chad to get it on for me. Then came using it, when I realized the pot I was making the soup in was not deep enough to contain all the splashing the immersion blender was about to do. Insert complete freak out. "Why did I choose this (expletive) pot?? That was so (expletive) stupid!! It's going to splash everywhere!! I knew from the beginning I shouldn't have used this pot...but guess what CHAD?? I STILL used it!!" So what's the next logical step? Realize it's not a big deal and either transfer the soup into a bigger pot or deal with the splashes and clean up the stove top after I finished, right? Wrong. The next logical step was to slam the blender down, slide the chair that was in my path across half the kitchen and into the table, storm off to our bedroom like a teenager and yell at Chad "I CAN NOT HANDLE THIS RIGHT NOW!!" Once in the room it was probably a chance to reflect on my freak out and calmly go back to the kitchen, right? Wrong again. The stupid light was flickering in our bedroom (we think there is a short in the socket) so upon plopping myself on the bed and realizing it, the best thing was to chuck a pillow at the light switch in hopes of hurting the wall's feelings. I'm sure it worked. But it definitely didn't quit flickering. I needed a few minutes of alone time and I came out of my whiny toddler temper tantrum crazed hormone situation, stuck my tail between my legs and came back into the kitchen to Chad finishing the soup and cleaning up my the blender's mess. I managed to do the garlic bread myself and we ate mostly in silence. I don't think I even realized how good the soup really turned out until the next day when I ate leftovers for lunch. He could have laughed at me but I think he was probably too scared. It's best for everyone that he didn't. Since then, I've apologized and thanked him a bunch for keeping me sane and helping me to resemble a normal human being with normal functions. He claims that's why we married each other. :)

Thank you for taking this journey with me down Hot Mess Lane (a side street near Friendship Lane.) Here's to not making a wrong turn on that street for another month or two, because that's about all I (and anyone else) can handle.

xo,
Baby Momma

Meet Avery.

I have a very heavy heart.

There's a sweet family we know (my cousin Lacey and Ryan's best friends) that are going through an extremely difficult time. My stomach literally churns thinking about the emotions they are going through. I don't have many words I feel are good enough to offer the kind of support I wish I could give them. But if I can hold it together for the next couple of minutes, I'd love to try.

Avery Lynn Canahuati :)

You see, Avery has just been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) at 5 months old. I won't even try to explain what that means because her parent's do an incredible job explaining it on their blog and I'd rather you read the facts from them.

Here are a few thoughts going on in my head.....
I would tell Miss Avery how lucky she is to have such a beautiful and loving Mommy and Daddy....but I think she already knows. I would tell her Mommy and Daddy to embrace everything that is Avery.....but clearly they are already way ahead of me. And I'd let them know the potential they have to touch people all over the world, bringing awareness to SMA (a disease I've never heard of before Avery)......but again, they're way ahead of me. I'd also tell Avery what an inspiration her story is to everyone she's touched so far and will touch in the future.....but I'm certain God told her how important she was going to be on this Earth.

Follow Avery's blog here: http://www.averycan.blogspot.com/

Please read Avery's story and pass it on. Through all the sadness I feel for this situation.....Avery definitely managed to put a huge smile on my face and I know she will do the same for you. Keep this precious baby girl in your hearts and prayers to give her and everyone around her strength and courage!

To Laura and Mike......I just want to say thank you. Thank you for seeing the bigger picture. Although it shouldn't surprise me because of the people that you are, what you're doing is really beautiful and inspirational. Especially for Chad and I to see it in the eyes of soon-to-be parents ourselves. It has reminded the two of us to embrace every single second of every single milestone. And I mean that in both our future child's life and our own. I hope you know the Gastineau clan considers you like family and we love you all so much!  xoxoxoxoxo

To Avery.......Wow little lady, you have a GREAT bucket list! I think you should add....
- Visit San Francisco and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge!
We live near there and would love to host you and mom and dad! It would be so fun. Talk it over with them and let me know what you think. It's an open invitation so you're welcome anytime! Disneyland is a 6 hour drive (or 1 hour flight) south of us.....that could be a fun addition to your list too! Hugs and kisses, sweet girl! xoxoxoxoxo

Love,
Brooke and Chad

21 weeks. Dead animals and blood.

21 weeks!

Continuing with the Frequently Asked Pregnancy Questions.......

Q: Have you had any aversions? or... Is there any food that makes you wanna barf all over the place?
A: Yes sir. Like I mentioned in my last post, I've had more intense aversions than I've had real cravings. I am my father's daughter and am in no way, shape, or form a picky eater. I love food and am open to trying just about anything. Which is why this whole "aversion" thing has been a new and probably the weirdest thing to me about pregnancy so far.

Two aversions that showed up sometime around week 6 or 7 and have not went away since then.....red meat and eggs. Red meat is a huge issue for me. I am without question a meat eater. I grew up on a farm with lots of cows and we were never lacking in the meat department in our freezer. And not just any meat, really REALLY good steaks. I could never be a vegetarian because I don't think I could give up my love of steaks. I like my steaks cooked medium rare and not one second longer. I judge people by the way they like their's cooked. I've been on dates where the guy orders a steak and I hold my breath when the waiter asks "how would you like that cooked?" Knowing that I will not be able to control my body language when they answer. I didn't even want to hear their answer because I knew what it would do for me, good or bad. It's a sickness really. I was with a guy for a long time that ordered his meat 'medium well'....I would literally cringe and develop an uncontrollable eye twitch every time he ordered. Not to mention I would send my apologies to the kitchen via the waiter for my boyfriend not having a clue what good steak tastes like. Looking back now I should have known things weren't going to work out for us in the long run.... Anywho, back to the point. Obviously I love steak. And luckily I married a man who also loves it and if I had to guess, we probably grill it at least once a week. Until Predator came along and took over my body. The thought of a medium rare steak sends shivers up my spine. Poor Chad is suffering as well since I don't want to eat it, he doesn't want to eat it in front of me. I thought that might be a first trimester thing, and although it has got much better, the fear of red meat still sticks with me. I have had a little steak a couple of times now and as long as it is cooked completely and all the way through, I can stand a little of it. I had a few issues with ground beef and chicken in the first three months, but that has been increasingly better in the last month. [One particularly traumatic meal of grilled chicken and pasta that Chad made during the first trimester made me spit it out in a napkin and dry heave in the bathroom while telling Chad to get the chicken THE EF OFF MY PLATE before I come back in there.] I can also walk past (and even order!) from the meat counter at the grocery store without smelling dead cows, chickens, and blood. Thankfully, Chad has been aware of this "issue" and always volunteers to help with dinner especially when it's a requirement to touch raw meat.

The egg thing isn't a huge deal to me since it really depends on what they look like. For example, as a "normal" person I prefer my eggs over medium or scrambled. Runny, yellow egg yolk....gross. Scrambled eggs have a similar effect on me. However, I can eat a cooked egg for say a breakfast sandwich....with bacon on it. It's something about the fact that it's whole and not in pieces that makes it okay. Well that and generally in life bacon makes everything better. As long as I'm not the one making the egg and having to look at it before it's cooked. I also eat (and can make) frittata which has a lot of cooked eggs in it. We made pasta carbonara one night for dinner and I couldn't even stand the smell of that. I felt like I was eating a raw egg and could smell a dead baby bird in the air. Needless to say, I did not have more than one bite.

And you're welcome for all of those visuals.

xo,
Brooke

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