How far along: 26 Weeks

Total weight gain: + 16 pounds

Sleep: I had a couple rough nights, but not too bad. The weather has been so great we are leaving the windows open at night, which is really nice. I started sleeping with a full body pillow (instead of just a regular pillow) so that is comfy!

Best moments: This weekend we FINALLY got the baby room cleaned up and ready to start really decorating! The painting is all done (and all of the equipment that goes with it has been moved out of the room) and the furniture is situated. Next is making the curtains, purchasing a glider, rug, hanging picture frames, getting registry items for the room, finishing up the mobile, (and probably many more things I’m not thinking of) AND THEN finally bringing home our son :)

Also, we went to the doc for another monthly check-up. He said I am not too big, not too small, just right!

Movement: Yup! My books say that Steve should be able to hear the heart beat if he listens really closely to my belly, but so far no luck!

Symptoms: Heartburn, pee, heartburn, pee, and repeat!

Maternity clothes: No new ones this week, so I’ve got all of my tops and pants on a cycle. I was able to wear one of my non-maternity spring dresses because it has a higher waist!

Food cravings: Mexican! Had it Thursday night, Friday lunch, Friday night, and made pico and guac for Saturday night trivia.

Food aversions: Nope.

What I'm eating: Milk & cereal, turkey sandwiches, cheese & crackers, apples, pizza (Happy Joe’s pizza actually…haven’t had that in years), Mexican (obviously), veggies & dip, guacamole & chips, toasted raviolis, popcorn, etc.

Exercise: Got a good walk in with mom Monday, couple short walks with Mario Tuesday (and swept & swiffer wet jet’ed the kitchen…that counts, right?), along with several small walks outside in this glorious weather!

Gender:

…Anyone know what that means?

What I miss: I can’t think of one thing this week :)

What I am looking forward to: My 3rd trimester!! I start next week and cannot wait! I know the 2nd was probably the easiest of the 3, but I’m hoping for a smooth last 3 months of pregnancy.

Milestones: We went to our first baby class this week. Our instructor seems great and the other moms and dads in the class are really nice. It is going to be a very informative 3 hours each week, so hopefully Steve can help retain all of this information (since I seem to not be able to remember anything)!

25 Weeks

How far along: 25 Weeks

Total weight gain: + 15 pounds

Sleep: Still sleeping pretty well. Just the usual 3-4 bathroom trips in the middle of the night still.

Best moments: This weekend was a fun-filled weekend (from Thursday-Saturday) with Steve’s birthday, Mizzou basketball (let’s not talk about that though), and St. Patrick’s Day! Steve had a great 31st birthday and is really excited about his present, an in-ground basketball hoop! Saturday we went to the parade in Dogtown. I was very excited to wear my St. Patrick’s Day baby bump shirt!

I also had another “craft night” this past week. This time with girls from Rolla! They were such awesome helpers getting me started on the elephant mobile! It is really coming together, and I’m almost done! I got the idea off Etsy (see Etsy picture below), where you can buy this mobile for like $90! No thanks! Can't wait to show off the finished project :)

Movement: All of the time! I noticed I can even see my stomach move if I look really closely! WEIRD!

Symptoms: Heart burn no matter what I eat! I heard this week that having heart burn during your pregnancy means that your baby will be born with the full head of hair!

Maternity clothes: YUP-and now I’m on the lookout for some cute maternity spring dresses for baby showers!

Food cravings: I don’t feel like I ever have any super strong cravings, just the usual stuff.

Food aversions: None that I can think of.

What I'm eating: I’m so behind with this post, I can’t remember what I ate…probably the usual stuff!

Exercise: Walks with Mario…really enjoying this weather!

Gender: Boy, duh!

What I miss: I didn’t miss drinking on Saturday at the parade, so that is good. It was just so nice to be outside (before the storm came in). The bladder issue was kind of a problem this week when I took a day trip to a plant that N/E built just outside Effingham, IL with some co-workers. All 12 of us had to stop on the way home because I had to pee! OOPS! Luckily, they all understood :)

What I am looking forward to: Next week we start our baby classes at Mercy. It is a 6 week class on Thursday nights that will go over new born care, giving birth, and breastfeeding! I hope that the class will be beneficial to both Steve and I! I’m also looking forward to getting started on baby room curtains & bed skirt (see next paragraph for more info).

Milestones: A few big ones! I registered last weekend (Babies R Us and Target) and I also ordered the fabric for the baby room. Here are the patterns I went with!

Elephant pattern:

Stripes Pattern:

Also, last Friday Steve and I went to visit 3 day cares in the Tesson Ferry and Fenton areas! We both really liked one of them, but their availability isn’t until JULY 2013! Seriously!! Still working out a plan for between my going back to work and that date, but we will work it out :)

24 Weeks

How far along: 24 Weeks

Total weight gain: + 14 pounds

Sleep: Good when I’m actually asleep but frequent trips to the bathroom at night wake me up and it is hard to get comfortable again after.

Best moments: Even when I did not feel well this past week, I could still feel the little guy moving and kicking and it just made me feel good to know that even though I didn’t feel well, he was still doing great!

Movement: He is quite the kicker when he is awake! It is a good feeling, but still weird to me :)

Symptoms: Lots of indigestion this week, but that might just have been something I ate. And when I eat too much I’m just so FULL. It is an awful feeling, so I really need to eat more frequent but smaller meals.

Maternity clothes: I wear them as much as I can!

Food cravings: Mexican again this week one night, but we just made it easy and went to El Maguay! Late in the week I think I got some kind of bug or ate something bad because I did not feel very good, which resulted in a lack of appetite. It is getting a little better, but nothing really sounds good and I’m just not getting hungry. Hoping this gets better in the next few days.

Food aversions: Just the loss of appetite :(

What I'm eating: Mexican, cheese tortellini, turkey sandwiches, grilled chicken with veggies & pasta, oranges, apples, Gold Fish crackers, Girl Scout cookies, milk, cereal, OJ!

Exercise: Got in a couple good walks with Mario and Aunt Erin one night. The belly issues had me resting up quite a bit.

Gender: Nantong (What I believe to be BOY in Chinese!)

What I miss: Just this week—feeling hungry and craving foods!

What I am looking forward to: Baby’s 1st St. Patrick’s Day! This past weekend I got together with some friends for a “craft night”. It was really just girls chatting, eating dinner and me painting. But it was still great! I painted a shamrock on the belly of my green shirt (same shirt as in the picture above) to wear this weekend at the parade on Saturday. Also, I am finally able to announce that my best friend Nickie is also expecting a baby and due just 11 weeks after me :) I’m so excited for her and her hubby Matt!!

Milestones: Assembling the dresser the other night. Was not as easy as the crib (took about 3 hours vs. 30 minutes) but we got it and it looks great!

23 Weeks

How far along: 23 Weeks

Total weight gain: + 13 pounds

Sleep: It’s going OKAY. Lower back pain is gone, so that helps a lot! I did not sleep great Friday night (probably because I was too excited for all of the shopping on Saturday).

Best moments: Lots of movement all week, especially during the storm the other night! Also, our trip to Chicago was this past weekend. Steve, mom, Aunt Erin & I drove up Friday after a half day of work. We were very fortunate to stay at Uncle Mike’s house, but unfortunately, we didn’t even get to see him because he was out of town! Thanks Uncle Mike for letting us crash!!
Saturday morning we headed to the IKEA where we shopped for 5 hours (there was a lunch break in the middle). We got lots of stuff for the baby room; shelves, picture frames, lamp shade, rug, hampers. We also got some other items for around the house; new kitchen cabinet handles, curtains, curtain rods, picture to frame for bathroom, table lamps and more shelves (to name a few items).
Afterwards we headed to the Premium Outlet Mall where I got some maternity shopping in, we were able to turn in our broken Samsonite suitcase to get it repaired under warranty, and the most adorable elephant onesie from Baby Gap!
Saturday night we were able to meet up with some cousins for a nice dinner. It was great seeing everyone, especially my 13 month old cousin Nolan. He is such a cutie!!! Sunday we headed back to St. Louis. It was a great, but short, weekend!

Movement: Every day especially at night! Steve has definitely felt a couple strong kicks too!

Symptoms: Every night my throat will start burning from heart burn right at bed time. And the frequent potty trips! In our 5 hour car ride we had at least 2-3 stops each way.

Maternity clothes: Finally got some work pants at Motherhood Maternity in Chicago this weekend! They are great!

Food cravings: Driving home from work on Tuesday I took a last minute turn into Dierberg’s because Mexican sounded so good. Over an hour of cooking later and an additional 30 minutes for clean up, I decided going out to a Mexican restaurant is way easier, tastes about the same if not better, and is about the same price (or possibly cheaper). Forget cooking Mexican at home for 2!

Food aversions: Nope.

What I'm eating: Mexican, spinach & cheese ravioli, turkey sandwiches, grilled cheese and soup, grilled chicken, spaghetti, sweet potatoes, apples, peaches, frozen yogurt, cookies, milk, cereal, OJ!

Exercise: Loved the weather this week. Lots of walks with Mario! The weather in Chicago was a big change—windy and snowy! But we did do LOTS of walking while shopping indoor (IKEA) and outdoors (outlet mall) this weekend!

Gender: Boy—a little Cardinals fan!

What I miss: Still miss a normal size bladder and sleeping on my back.

What I am looking forward to: I think my “nesting” is kicking in because I really want to get going on finishing things around the house. I would like to get our formal dining and living room going very soon, some new shelves in the basement to organize everything down there, paint the guest bedrooms and hang up curtains…it’s all stuff we’ve put off since moving in and I want to GET IT DONE!

Milestones: Putting together the baby crib!! It only took 1 quarter of the Mizzou game the other night! Super easy. We shall see about the dresser this week!