The beginning

Here're some pictures from the beginning of this journey for us.  My 'bump progression' pictures that we only took on two occasions and the bit off mess the room started out as.  Basically, here's the unloading I did from my phone and camera. :)

14 weeks pregnant - starting 2nd trimester

This is kind of how I felt...I remember thinking I had a big belly.  It was really just like I'd had a big lunch or like I was the party girl with the beer belly and I was missing my flat stomach.  Kind of funny how busting some pre-pregnancy pants can really put things in perspective and you realize that what you thought was big, was not big, and what you think big is now, probably still isn't. 

Here I am again at 18 weeks pregnant.  Notice I've started to gather paint colors and furniture behind me.

 A week later at 19 weeks pregnant...I don't know why we took these pictures, but it captures a part of my daily life.  

My pants are always unzipped.  I realized it a couple shots in this time. 

 So who knows how long I'd been walking around work with my fly down.  I do this ALL THE TIME.  I know sometimes I get lazy, but seriously.  I think the problems gotten worse since pregnant and I'm having to jimmy-rig my pants so the zippers are only half zipped to begin with.  Makes it easier for them to end up unzipped I guess.  At least, that's how I'm explaining it.  Blame it on the pregnancy and just laugh about it.

I really don't have much a belly in these pictures and I think it was about 20 weeks when my belly actually 'popped' and went from looking like a gut to an actual, believable baby bump.  Here's a picture from that Sunday.  Yes, my mirror's dirty, it's not your monitor or your eyes.

 Pictures from the beginning of my nursery looking and planning.  I took a trip to Ikea and found most of what I wanted (we did not end up getting the dresser, but I guess it's still an option)  We did not know the gender of the baby at this point so I was keeping it mostly gender neutral.  I also knew I wanted something not really baby or too themed.  I wanted something that could transition easily and something I would enjoy being in at 3:00 am for feedings.  I like the idea of a cabin like feel with old wood, skin rugs and antlers.  The colors I leaned toward were a golden yellow, kelly green, and if it's a girl throw in the pale blush colors, and if it's a boy, throw in a red/orange - for a more southwestern feel.  I wanted a southwestern print rug and I wanted to replace the closet door with a sliding 'barn door.'

MUST HAVE THIS RUG.  Quick, make Ikea employee check when more will be in and make sure Bryce and I get one!  I was so excited I couldn't even take a focused picture.

Thought this would make a cute dirty clothes hamper.  Maybe in the bright Kelly Green color?  Get a European sham pillow case and put a drawstring in it for the liner?

 fun storage ideas and a color that's in my nursery inspiration.  Must.add.something.this.color.

I like the idea of a cable system to display birth announcements or whatever, until the kid is drawing and can hang their own creations in its room.

Found these at Target and thought they'd be cute if it's a girl for a more vintage feel.

I've seen some nice things done with these...thought about mixing some in above the dress or crib.

Like the idea of a cool glass lamp shade - trying to think if there was something fun I could put inside it.  I also like the yellow base beside it.  Another color being used.

Then I had to get serious on the wall color and color schemed of the nursery so I could narrow my searches and control my running thoughts and ideas.

 I thought I'd be using a Home Depot card to buy the paint so that's why I'm looking at Behr colors.  Ended up not using the Depot card so I had Benjamin Moore match the winning Behr color.  They did  a wonderful job too  - I love the wall color.  Thanks Jen and Bryce for the input and final decision.  Wall color winner is the middle bottom gray, Dolphin Fin.

The one on the left was a little on the green side and was a close runner up - kind of made it a little more woodsy and traditional than contemporary or industrial.    I was afraid the one on the bottom right would be too dark for the small room with little lighting.

Spoiler Alert

It's a boy.  See the proof.

Lil' Fatty McFatterson: 20 week update

I am officially 20 weeks today and tomorrow we will (I hope) find out the gender of our little turd.

First the facts:

Weight gain: 10 lbs – guess that’s what happens when you’re always eating and a parasite’s growing inside of you.

Cravings: 

- a conservative 2 or 3 pickle spears, with a couple gulps of pickle juice with a string cheese chaser.

- Italian dressing on bag salad

- Zaxby’s fries was the first desired specific food, now I kind of want Wendy's. 

- Fried rice with the white sauce from a Hibachi grill

- no sweets (ice cream early on for one week and I still have ice cream bars left from that)

- last night I wanted some really buttery and extra parmesan-y parmesan breadsticks.  Good thing we were at Wal-Mart already so I could go raid the freezer section.

Clothes:  no maternity yet.  Any pants that are low rise still work, anything fitted or higher-waisted I jimmy rig with a hair elastic.   A couple pairs of pants (and sadly my high-waisted pencil skirts) are officially out of commission until 5 months after this baby comes out.

In honor of finding out the gender of our fetus tomorrow, I thought I'd entertain some old wives tales.  Place your bets and we'll see who the wiener is tomorrow - maybe it's our baby.

Wives Tales:

If the dark line under you belly button stops at your belly button it's a girl.  If it continues above your bellybutton it's a boy.  GIRL

Heart beat:  Above 140 = girl, 140  or below = boy     GIRL - our was 160 on the last visit.

put your wedding band on a string or hair and dangle it over your belly.  If it swings back and forth it's a girl, if it swings in a circle i's a boy      GIRL

Key test: If you pick it up by top it's a boy.  Pick up by long skinny part, girl     BOY

Mayan Tale: add age at conception and year of conception.  If sum is even number it is a girl, odd is boy     GIRL

Acne: yes is girl, no is boy     I don't think this counts for me because acne is the story of my life.  My face acne is better, but I have back acne now (TMI?) so I don't know which way you want to go with this.  I throw it out.

How you carry: low all in front, boy; high and got wider, girl     GIRL?  I think my uterus is high so I could be a high low?  I guess we'll just go with girl though...

Cravings: salty or sour – boy; sweets, fruit, orange juice – girl   I've been pounding oranges lately, but we'll say BOY

The Chinese Gender Chart claims to have an accuracy rate of over 90%.  It is based on how old the mother is at conception and the month she conceived.  BOY

Dreams: you dream of boy, you have a girl.  If you dream of a girl you'll have a boy.  I dreamed of a boy.   GIRL

If the pregnant mother is clumsy it is a boy.  If the pregnant mother is graceful it is a girl.  Definitely a BOY on this one then.  All those years of dance only help me look graceful as I bend over to pick up everything I drop three times.

Resting side:  left – boy, right – girl     Prefer to sleep on my left side so it's a BOY

Have the pregnant mother show you her hands.  If she places them out palms up - girl, palms down – boy      BOY

Intuition: 71% of the time the mom-to-be’s guess is right.   GIRL

Morning Sickness: yes – girl, no – boy     BOY

Cold feet? Yes – boy, no – girl     GIRL

Hair on legs growing faster? Yes – boy, no – girl     GIRL

Hands dry: yes – boy, no – girl     BOY

BOY: 8

GIRL: 9

Pretty close here folks.  Guess these wives tales are full of malarkey.  

This is just lovely

Elizabeth Anne Designs

Beautiful.  Had to post just so I wouldn't lose it. :)

My Lucky Day

I woke up this morning and either there really is a baby in my belly and it decided to finally start showing or, as I believe, I'm constipated and the extra few pounds are only temporary.

Either way, I was a little shocked when I put on my shirt this morning for our quick trip to Home Depot while the bathroom paint dried.

from just looking like I had a big lunch

to prego mommy or serious fatty

It's lucky for me that I looked like this today because they were giving away free popcorn, lemonade, and hotdogs outside Home Depot so I didn't have to feel bad when I asked for 3 hotdogs.  Hey, either I'm pregnant or I'm really fat. :)  A decent, respectable person isn't going to say anything either way...

Ok, I really didn't ask for three hotdogs, but that first one really hit the spot and I easily could've downed a couple more.  I started laughing at myself as we were walking away.  Me with my lemonade, bag of popcorn, and hotdog.  Geez fatty.

Edit: the stripes on the shirt seem to exaggerate the curves a bit here, so the belly is pretty much the same as the first picture, just pulling the shirt tighter to show off the belly.  And as I suspected, when I woke up Sunday morning, that belly was gone and I fit into my cute Easter skirt - so basically I look more like the first picture...

I guess it's official

We're gonna have a baby.  We bought a crib and that brought reality crashing down.  Ok, not really.  But it was kind of trippy to be buying a crib. 

We took my car and packed it full of Ikea boxes (chair, footstool, crib, big rug, little rug, cushions for chair and footstool).

Go Juke!

I have a little under 2 months to get the room cleared out and the walls painted before my work force (Mom and Dad) arrives.  Should be no problem...

What you can't see is the BowFlex which is folded up on the left wall and there's a keyboard in front of where the big office chair is.  We also have a weight bench in our guest room that used to be in here.  There's a stereo set on the floor as well.  I guess we keep it so we can play all those sweet tapes we still have laying around..