Pregnancy Update: 7 Weeks

How far along: 7 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Still staying off the scale until my doctor's appointment.

Maternity clothes: Got a few more pairs of pants out, and I bought some shirts and sweaters. I decided - who cares? I'm pregnant! Ha!

Stretch marks: No.

Sleep: I'm still very tired. Jason has been so great at encouraging me to lay down when I need it. I've been having a hard time getting to sleep at night sometimes too but overall, not too bad!

Best moment this week: Spending the mornings hanging out with Janie and Jason in bed. Janie loves to cuddle with us and with the baby.

Miss anything: I miss my family, especially because of Thanksgiving.

Movement: Not yet!

Food cravings: I've been eating cinnamon toast every morning and lots of clementines. Yum.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Just food in general. Bleh.

 

Have you started to show yet: Not particularly.

Gender: We're still feeling like it's a girl. Jason thinks we will only ever have girls - we'll see!!!

Labor signs: No!

Belly button in or out: In. 

Wedding rings on or off: On.

Happy or moody: Still moody but this week has been better, as I am able to sleep when I need it.

Other weird and random pregnancy related things: Still having headaches - yuck. Also, I have been having a hard time catching my breath and having some sharp pains in my side. I was worried but then I found this online and felt relieved.

I sometimes feel short of breath now that I'm pregnant. Is this common?

Yes, many women experience this sensation as their pregnancy advances. You may even notice it early in pregnancy, although at that stage it's more often sensed as a heightened awareness of the need to breathe.

You need more oxygen during pregnancy, and your body adapts to meet this need in several ways. An increase in hormones, particularly progesterone, directly affects your lungs and stimulates the respiratory center in your brain. And while the number of breaths you take per minute actually changes very little during pregnancy, the amount of air you take in with each breath increases significantly.

Looking forward to: Same things! Going to the doctor to hear the heartbeat of this little one, watching my belly grow, and seeing Janie learn to become a big sister.

Milestones: The baby is the size of blueberry! Aw! He/she is generating 100 new brains cells per minute. He/she is growing arms and legs and working on the final set of kidneys this week. It's pretty incredible to read these things each week!

From Janie's perspective: Janie REALLY loves to kiss and hug the baby (well, my belly). She tells everyone where the baby is. Lately, she's been lifting up her shirt and putting her finger in her own belly button - I think she's just trying to figure this whole thing out :)

Choo-Choo!

Jason got his Christmas present yesterday and couldn't have been more thrilled! He's been looking and looking into buying a train set for under the Christmas tree, and I told him he had to go out yesterday and just BUY ONE! He did, and he has been having so much fun with it since last night. I hear him downstairs now being a conductor again :) The set he bought makes noises and smoke, and it is very realistic. Janie absolutely loves it as well!

Thanksgiving 2011

Look at this! Thanksgiving was only 2 days ago, and here I am - posting pictures already! Wow! We spent Thanksgiving Day at Jason's sister's house. We love going to Julie's and spending time with her, and the day went by way too fast!!!! Janie was a little charmer the whole day long - snuggling up to people, being very funny, and eating LOTS. And I made 2 homemade pies and Granny's potatoes.

Hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

The Big News!

When I was pregnant with Janie two years ago, I ate an enormous amount of Chocolate Cheerios. I ate them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and for snacks. (I also ate Spaghetti-O's but that's another story.) I ate SO MANY  Chocolate Cheerios, and then after she was born, I never wanted them again. So fast forward to this past weekend... I was shopping in Big Lots, and I came across a GIANT box of Chocolate Cheerios - I had to have them! I thought nothing of this until the next morning when I poured myself a big bowl of them, and BAM - I knew. I must be pregnant.

Except for the fact that I had already taken two pregnancy tests, and they both said no! But I just knew... the Chocolate Cheerios had decided for me, coupled with the fact that I had taken about 5 naps over the weekend. So Monday morning, we found out that I was right - I am pregnant, and the baby is due on July 16, 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so thrilled! We also were so excited to be able to announce the news with Janie, so we did just that for our families.

Well my childhood friend Lauren is expecting her first baby, and I have been keeping up with her progress through her blog and her baby blog. She does this very fun weekly questionnaire to keep her friends and family updated, and I want to do the same for my friends and family. So I will start on this week, the 6th week of my 2nd pregnancy.

How far along: 6 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: I guess I'll find out at my next doctor's appointment but I feel like I've gained 20 pounds in 4 days for some reason!

Maternity clothes: I have to admit that I did get out a pair of maternity jeans already due to the answer above...

Stretch marks: These didn't show up until the last month of being pregnant with Janie... here's hoping for the same this time!

Sleep: I AM SO TIRED. ALL THE TIME. I have a cold and took off one day this week. I took naps with Janie whenever she did. So one time I put her down, then went to my room to lay myself down. Here's what I found... (Guess I'm not the only tired one!)

Best moment this week: Telling our families, then friends, then students, then bell choir, then everyone we've ever met. :) We really did have fun telling everyone!!!! 

Miss anything: Just feeling well rested would be nice.

Movement: Not yet!

Food cravings: See the picture of the giant box of Cheerios above? Yep, that's pretty much it so far. Oh and the ice cream that Jason went out and got for me one night. Which I never ended up eating because "it's not as good as the Meadows." Oh boy.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Eggs. Just like last time. 

Have you started to show yet: Hahaha. Well I like the fact that I can use the excuse, "I'm pregnant!" now when I'm feeling not so thin :) Also, remember the maternity jeans I already got out?

Gender: We will wait until he/she is born to find out again but Jason and I both think it's a girl again.

Labor signs: Not for a long time, I hope!

Belly button in or out: In. It never came out last time.

Wedding rings on or off: On!

Happy or moody: Depends on who you ask I guess, but I'd say MOODY with all capital letters.

Other weird and random pregnancy related things: I have had a killer headache for the past 3 days. When I was pregnant with Janie, I never had a headache, so I was hoping for the same thing this time! Also, my skin has been so itchy and I couldn't figure out why. Just got an email about itchy skin. Guess that's another symptom!

Looking forward to: Going to the doctor to hear the heartbeat of this little one, watching my belly grow, and seeing Janie learn to become a big sister.

Milestones: Baby is developing jaws, cheeks, a chin, ears, kidneys, liver, and lungs this week. Pretty cool!!!

From Janie's perspective: Janie has learned to point to my belly when we ask her, "Where's the baby?" She also likes to kiss the baby goodnight each night. I know she's going to be an amazing big sister!!!!

Halloween 2011

We had so much fun with Janie this year on Halloween! Last year, she was very cute in her baby duck costume but this year, she had so much personality and we just were able to enjoy her so much!

First... pictures from last year...

She was sooo small!!!!

But this year was so different... We dressed Janie, Wilson, and Aggie up with a common theme - medieval characters. We just happened to find a knight and a princess costume for the dogs months ago at TJ Maxx, then when we finally went out to get Janie's costume, the first one we saw was a dragon! It was perfect, and she loved it. She spent the whole night growling when we asked her what a dragon said - it cracked everyone up!

All ready to go with a thumbs up and everything!

She did not want me to be taking these pictures, can you tell?

Eating a pumpkin cookie.

Hanging with Grandma and Grandpa.

Visiting with neighbors.

The trio. What a feat to have this picture!

Ready for trick or treaters!

Our house also looked pretty good! Jason puts up weird, torn curtains and plays very loud and creepy organ music, and we always carve a few pumpkins. This year, we carved them with Timon of course, and also with our friend Shannon. They turned out pretty good, I'd say :)

Then came the best part of all! Our friends Justin and Sara came over with their two children, we (very slowly) walked down the street to our friend Jen and Stephen's house to take pictures with their two children, and then we all had a walking trick or treat caravan for a few blocks. It was so cute to see Janie play with her friends, walk in her dragon costume, and figure out what this Halloween thing is all about. Most of the time, she crawled up the steps to each neighbor's front porch, dropped off her bag, and waved bye bye. She didn't really get it. But we had fun anyway!

Asher (and his sister Abby) arrive. Janie's got a tiny little baby crush on Asher :)

The whole crew.

The babies :)

Janie's method of getting up the stairs. 

I can't wait for next year - I know it will be even more fun!