17 weeks!

19 more days till our anatomy scan! Can't wait to see our little guy again and see how much he has grown and finally shut people up about him being a him. Today at least he has been quite the little mover. Bouncing and kicking all over the place I think that Daniel even felt him this morning! He was really active after I had woken up and gone to the bathroom so I woke Daniel up and had him try and feel, of course once he put his hand there he stopped moving but there was a good couple of strong jumps that he said he felt after a few minutes. So yay! I still can't wait though for it to be a no guess thing where he can confidently say "I felt him!". Not to much longer.

-Your baby is about the size of a mango, approximately 6 inches long (head to rump) and weighs around 7 ounces.
-Their legs are now very long and constantly moving.
-Your baby's own unique finger prints begin to form this week.
-The cartilage they had is now turning to hard bone so keeping an extra amount of dairy/calcium in your diet is important
-If you were to measure your fundal height you would find that the top of your uterus is only about 2 inches or less from your belly button.

Today Daniel and I went to the farmers market for $25 we were able to get: grapes, okra, Asian pears, figs, two bunches of carrots, a cucumber, and a small jar of fresh (as in three day old) honey! It's all organic and all locally grown! Everything the sampled while we were there tasted fantastic.

Easy "Italian" Pasta Salad

Easy "Italian" Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
Multicolor Spinal Pasta
Pesto Sauce
1-2 small carton of Cherry Tomatoes
Black Kalamata Olives (pitted)
Mozzarella (**Feta can be used if you like it better)

Directions:
1-Cook pasta according to box instructions. Drain and place in a large bowl to cool in the fridge.
2-Wash your tomatoes and slice in half. Set to the side or add to your pasta in the fridge.
3-Open your jar of pitted black Kalamata olives and measure out approximately 1 cup (more or less as you desire).
4-Add the olives along with the tomatoes to the pasta and place back in the fridge.
5-Begin making your pesto sauce according to the instructions below.

Pesto Sauce:
3 cloves Garlic
2 cups fresh Basil leaves
3 tbs Pine Nuts
1/2-1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 dash Salt and fresh ground Black Pepper
Peel the garlic cloves and put into a blender of food processor add basil and pine nuts and blend together till everything is a very fine texture. Slowly add the olive oil making it into a creamy sauce (starting with 1/2 a cup and then increasing by 1 tbs at a time) add more olive oil if you wish for a thinner consistency.

6-Once your sauce it at the consistency you want remove the bowl containing the pasta, tomatoes, and olives from the fridge.
7-Slowly spoon on the pesto sauce and gently fold all ingredients together.
8-Take the mozzarella and shred or crumble it till you have approximately 1/2 cup then add it to your pasta either letting it sit on top or fold it together.
9-Once you have the amount of sauce you want on your pasta place it back in the fridge to cool a little more before serving.

Nom nom nom

Yesterday I suddenly had a MAJOR craving for bacon cheeseburger pizza from BJ's. So Daniel got home from class oh around 6:30 and asked what I wanted to do for dinner. Now I had planned on just making Hamburger Helper or something along those lines but with this craving that just wouldn't cut it. So I tell him that I have been wanting a cheeseburger pizza from BJ's and immediately he goes "oooh that does sound really good!". So we got to BJ's and were seated and as soon as our waitress came by to get drink orders we just went ahead and ordered the pizza. Seriously if you have never tried this pizza, and you have a BJ's restaurant close by you, you MUST! The bacon cheeseburger pizza has on it; bacon, cheese, ground beef, onion, tomato, thousand island dressing, and pickles! It is the most amazing pizza ever and I swear it was made for pregnant women. After eating a couple slices I had a happy very fully tummy but I couldn't leave without getting a pizzookie. Really all a pizzookie is, is a cookie smooshed into a little baking pan. They cook it long enough for the edges to get a little crispy and the top to cook but the center is still really gooey. Then they put a scoop of ice cream on top and bring it out to you nice a hot.

Man oh man I was seriously on happy pregnant lady last night, and I had leftovers (of both) so guess what I'm eating for lunch today? Mmmm.

16 weeks!

Oh my gosh 4 months! That means we are almost half way there!


-At 16 weeks your baby weights about 5 ounces and is about the size of an avocado.
-This week your baby's external genitals should be almost fully formed and with assistance of a good ultrasound machine/tech you may even be able to determine if it's a boy or girl! (Some can find out as early as 15 weeks via ultrasound, again so long as you have a good machine and a tech who can "read" well)
-Eyebrows, hair, and eyelashes have started filling in
-Your baby is able to shift his/her eyes side to side as the muscles that control eye movement have started to work.

The other day I kid you not I was able to feel the baby move. I felt three distinct bumps that I assume are from him jumping (he likes to jump). Haven't felt or noticed anything today but I have read that being a first time mom and still early on that it's normal to feel a few movements one day and then nothing for a few other day. Part of that can be because I just am not noticing it or it could be that he is sleeping more when I am active and more active when I am sleeping. And since on most of our ultrasounds he has been a sleepy bug I would guess he is more active when I sleep.
Also on a more "eww" level I noticed yesterday that my breasts are already leaking. What the heck? I thought that, that wasn't supposed to happen till later towards the end of the last trimester. After looking around the internet with the mighty google I found out that it's not an abnormal thing and nothing to be worried about but it's not a normal thing that most pregnant women experience. Another thing I freaked myself out a little I had been sitting in bed and when I got up I felt a small "gush" and noticed my underwear was wet. So of course my mind goes to the worst case scenario first and I think "great my water is leaking" again using the google I found out that you can check at home to see if it is your water leaking by laying down for 30 minutes+ and then getting up and if you have any leakage it's likely to be your water and to get to the ER ASAP. So I did that a few different time and nope nothing. apparently I've already started to not be able to hold my pee properly =/


Ahh the things that go on with your body while pregnant that they never tell you about!

Nighttime vent

Grrrr
So online, people keep telling me that I should not trust this early that we are actually having a boy. That at this point the genitals can still look the same or the girls can be swollen causing their parts to look like boy parts. Maybe they just don't want me to be let down IF our tech was wrong (which I don't believe that she was at all! Those shots look all boy!) or maybe they're just jealous that they aren't able to find out yet, I don't know but it's really irritating me this evening.
So a "u/a" to the people who feel they should tell me not to put my money on him being a boy. Shut up! It's not going to hurt you any for me to believe it and then confirm, again, at our next appointment that he is still a he. So seriously shut up and stop trying to rain on my parade (and other people's).


Ok, now that I have gotten that off my chest I'm off to bed.

More pictures

Heart beat-152 beats per minute.
Mostly all stretched out, and in the process of turning his back to us.It seems as though he has long legs and it looks like you can see an ear as well.
Fully turned so we could see his spine
Another crotch shot. They turned on the red/blue identifier thing that detects blood flow to make sure that what we were seeing wasn't just the cord!
This is my favorite 4D picture that we got. I labeled what facial features are what
Hand up by his head (we think that he likes to sleep like that)
Yawning and stretching

Pretty cool, I mean not all that much to look at as far as details go because he's still so skinny and early in development but watching him move around in the 4D was really awesome and I wasn't expecting to have that! I think that it will be cool if we are able to have 4D done again (or go pay for it at one of those places) when we're further along and he definitely has more fat on him and the facial detailing will be unmistakable I think that if we go somewhere we'll have the whole family be a part of it so they can see it too.

It's a................

You ready for it? Here we go baby bug is a........


a BOY! No denying it!
At first he was not wanting to open up his legs at all so there was no way we were going to be able to find out so we spent some time checking everything else out and after giving him a belly-quake (laughing hard a a minute) he moved around enough and opened up his legs and there was no denying that he is all boy! Daddy was stoked and grinning from ear to ear the whole time but he was definitely stoked that he was right.

On the way home we stopped at Build-A-Bear and made him his first teddy bear. It's blue (for boy) and we got a little Jedi outfit for him. It's so cute and I'm sure once he is older he will love it and it will be one of his favorite things.


We already have a name picked out but we decided not to share it until he is born (unless we accidentally spill the beans or the get to excited and tell) we figured that would be a good last surprise for family.
I will be posting more pictures tomorrow but it's late and I am exhausted so the little man and I are heading to bed.

15 weeks!

Today's the day! Hopefully we will be finding out the gender this afternoon! But, as always before an appointment I'm nervous.
So the poll is in on facebook and my friends are split almost evenly on what they think Bug's gender is. Guesses for boy pulled a head by a few votes last night but they're still almost exactly split. I really honestly would love a boy first but I really don't care what the gender is so long as I know that he/she is healthy and growing right on track. I'm just most excited about having a name stick once we know and being able to finally call him/her by name and just feel so much more bonded. I just hope Bug cooperates and gives us a nice look in between his/her legs!


-This week your baby is about the size of a pear weights about 3.5 ounces and is approximately 4.5+ inches long.
-This week the three small bones in your baby’s inner ear start forming this week, so it will soon be able to hear you!
-This week your baby’s legs are finally longer than its arms and its little head is no longer the biggest part of their body.

Looks like bug might be a....

BOY!
Well it looks like Daniel might be right! Which would be awesome, only a few more days till we should be finding out! Wednesday morning I have a WIC appointment to enroll and then right after that I have my appointment and ultrasound with my midwife. So exciting!!!!


Anyways, I know a lot of people think that the Intelligender test is a waste of time and money since it only have a 50/50 chance of being right but I don't care. I had fun doing it and watching it change colors, and Daniel was stoked to have it back up what he has been saying since the beginning. So yay there's my fun tide-me-over for the weekend.

14 weeks!

14 weeks or 3 1/2 months! 1 weeks til our next appointment and possibly finding out bugs gender!

-This week your baby is making facial movements such as frowning and squinting (but their eyelids are still fused shut over their fragile-fully developed eyes).
-At 14 weeks your baby is about the size of a orange. Approximately 3.4 inches and weights about 1.5 ounces.
-Your baby’s neck is much more obvious now (when seen on an ultrasound) and rather than his/her little head resting on their chest, there’s a neck separating the two. -His/her chin is becoming more predominant and those little ears (which up until now, were positioned quite low on their face) have moved into their proper place on the side of the head.

I think that bug likes to move up to the top of my uterus when I sleep. Every morning when I wake up there is a much more obvious bump and the area is very firm, but later during the day as I begin to move around that ends up moving lower and the bump when I lay down is less obvious.

Cheesey Potato and Sausage Chowder

Ingredients:
4-5 medium Potatoes shredded
1-2 C shredded Cheddar Cheese
One 8 count Sausage link pack
4-5 C Milk
Approx 1 Tbs ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Thyme
(**more or less for your preference with all ingredients)

Directions:
1. Shred the potatoes and put into a medium/large cooking pot.
2. Shred 2 cups cheddar cheese and add to the pot with the potatoes (more or less can be added depending on how cheesey you would like your chowder).
3. Add 4-5 cups of milk to the pot with the cheese and potatoes and turn on the heat. Allow the boil string periodically then reduce to a simmer and put a lid on top.
4. While you begin to boil the chowder in a skillet break apart your sausage links as you would ground beef and brown them.
5. Dump the sausage and dripping along with the black pepper and thyme into the chowder and mix together.
6. Allow your chowder to simmer and cook the potatoes for 45 minutes to a hour string constantly to prevent scorching or the potatoes from sticking to the bottom.

*If you would like your chowder thinner add more milk 1/2 a cup at a time. If you would like it thicker add a little bit of flour and make sure you stir it well so you don't have clumps, but sicne potatoes release a natural starch your chowder should be pretty thick.

Paint Colors!

Since baby bug is going to be rooming with Daniel and I, I needed to find a paint color that would work in our room for the baby and whatever bedding I end up choosing and that Daniel would be happy with, which meant nothing to bright. Meaning no baby blues or pinks, no greens or yellows you know most of those colors people tend to turn to when painting/decorating a nursery. So we went to Home Depot and looked at their paint section and I found two different colors that we both liked. An almost royal blue for if bug is a boy and a deep purple for if bug is a girl. (The lights from taking the pictures changed want color the samples actually look like, they're both a tad darker than they appear to be).

Snack time

Daniel and I went shopping yesterday for some fruits and other healthy snack type things that I can munch on in between actual meals. I cleaned some off this morning and put them in bowls on my night stand next to the bed/couch.




I also bought a belly band yesterday. My size 0 pants don't really want to zip or button any longer but maternity pants are still huge on me so the band was a good choice.

Hello & Welcome!

We hit 13 weeks today which means we're now entering the 2nd trimester!!!

I've definitely anxiously and eagerly been awaiting hitting this milestone! I can't believe how much growth has happened in just the last 13(ish) weeks. Bug had gone from being the size of a poppy seed to now being the size of a medium cocktail shrimp or a lemon! And in just a couple weeks at our next appointment we might be able to take a guess as to if bug is a boy or girl. I'm going to ask my tech or MW (who ever is doing the scan) to just take a guess for us and then I plan to use that Intellagender test and see if it's results back up their guess. Just for fun though, we'll confirm the gender a few weeks later at our big long scan.


-Your baby is approximately 3.5-4 inches is size and weighs maybe 1.6 ounces
-Your babies brain has grown at an incredible rate and their head now accounts for close to 1/3 of their whole body.
-Unique individual fingerprints are now formed on each of their little fingers.
-Oh and if you having a little girl by now her ovaries are developed and all the eggs she will ever have are "developed" in her ovaries, but outwardly both genders sex organs still look to be the same.


Grow baby grow!!