13 Weeks

Baby and Mommy stats:

The baby is about the size of a peach and should be getting close to the 3 inch mark! Its eyes are almost proportional and not on the sides of the head! Male/female parts are now developed. Baby is basically done with the development phase and is moving to the growth phase. Should be getting bigger faster now!

So far I have gain 4 lbs since the beginning of the pregnancy. Definitively doing a lot better than when I had KFC and am on track! Morning sickness is basically over and I am usually hungry All the time!

13 Week Appointment:

Earlier this week I had my second OB appointment! This was a 'big' appointment for I was getting a full work up... Pap and all! NOT fun! I really wanted hubby at this appointment, for one, take care of KFC while doctor was, well "down there", and to also be there for me just in case any issues arose with the baby. Hubby's work, of course, got totally slammed and he wasn't able to make it. I asked a special someone to accompany me to my appointment. She did great at slipping KFC out of room when doctor was getting ready for the pap. The doctor took FOREVER to find the heartbeat!!!! All I could do was stare up at the ceiling. After traveling that doppler across my entire stomach, pressing down hard on my growing uterus, he finally came across the heartbeat. As soon as he found it, he basically took it off. Have no idea what the hear rate was, but still glad to hear it. I am pretty certain that as he had the doppler over the baby, that it kicked! It was fairly strong! I guess from him pushing down so hard I was able to feel it so well. This past weekend I'm pretty sure that I have been feeling it flutter here and there! Yay. My favorite part of being pregnant! Up until now it has been very boring. You know its there but when you feel it, it makes it so much more real! KFC really enjoys coming with me to the doctor and she loved hearing the heartbeat. I'm glad she's so involved in the process. 

Now I just gotta wait 4 more weeks till my next visit! Sigh

9 Weeks

I have finally made it to 9 weeks and have had my first OB visit and ultrasound! I was Super nervous for this appointment. I have been dreaming of this day for a year and a half and it was finally here. Even though I have had Every pregnancy symptom, it was still very surreal to be walking into my doctors office and actually be pregnant. Hubby and KFC joined me and I'm glad they did for helped me think of something other than the appointment. When I get nervous I cry; I was already nervous, the nerves made me want to cry, and I was nervous about crying in front of the doctor, which made me more nervous! Endless cycle! Fortunately, I was able to hold it together. 

First was my weight check. The 5 lbs I lost at the beginning, I had gain it back. So really back where I started. Not too bad. As we walked into the exam room, all I saw was the ultrasound machine with my name at the top! I was excited to see the baby but even more scared. Scared to know if there was more than one baby and also scared there would be no heartbeat! The doctor started looking around and up popped the baby. A VERY blurry little blob. I was so disappointed in the picture quality. When I had KFC's first ultrasound, the picture was clearer and you could make out a lot more! So I expected this one to be the same. They have newer equipment from when I was there with KFC, but I didn't expect it to be worse. :(  As I already knew, this baby came out of my left ovary. My right ovary you could barely see on the screen while the left one had a huge black circle where the egg was released. As she was looking at the left ovary, I noticed there were 2 huge back circles! She said that there were possibly 2 eggs that were released but only 1 egg that "took". I'm still a little nervous that another baby could be hiding behind this one!! She had a hard time getting a good picture of the baby anyway. Really hoping that I get another ultrasound at my next visit!

Here is KFC's first picture. You can see the head on the right, her little arms in the middle, and her little feet on the left. KFC measured 1.82cm 

Now here is this baby's picture. A BIG difference! I'm thinking this is a front on shot, where KFC's was a side shot. The head starts at the top right + and the butt stops at the bottom left +. Looks to me like its arms and legs are folded in in the middle. Baby is now measuring 2.09cm, slightly bigger than KFC!

Here is the heartbeat. Very cool to get to hear! So tiny, but already has a fully functioning heart! Baby's heartbeat came in at 173 bpm.

I have my next appointment in 2 weeks to do lots of blood work and meet with a nurse to talk about insurance and any pre-screening tests I would like to have. Then I meet with my doctor in 4 weeks for the OB physical exam. Not looking forward to that appointment, but still hoping they will have to do another ultrasound. 

My nausea seems to slowly be wearing off. I'm still queasy most of the day and at some times its a little worse. But definitively more manageable than week 7! There are still tons of smells and sights of things that almost send me over the edge. ie, this morning I saw the most biggest, fattest, hairiest spider on our kitchen wall. I ran got the fly swatter. Had to hit him 2 times before he flew to the ground! I looked up to see massive chunks of guts left on the wall. Started gagging and it was all over from there. Glad I had only had orange juice this morning but OJ doesn't feel good up the nose! haha The spider including its guts on the wall have been left for hubby when he gets home!

Craft Day

I spoke too soon, and I have now entered the ALL day long nausea phase of the pregnancy! I wake up sick, feel sick off and on all day, and go to bed sick! I have found that if I don't eat enough is when I feel the sickest. But EVERYTHING sounds so disgusting! I don't eat because I feel sick and I feel sick because I don't eat... endless cycle. :( Yesterday KFC was in school so I got to spend most of the day in bed. I managed to get a load of laundry done and cleaned one bathroom. But today I felt so bad staying in bed while KFC watched TV! After the first bout of sickness subsided I managed to get a craft up for her. 

I was trying to teach her about clouds. The different types of clouds, their shapes, colors, and what each cloud means. We started off with a cotton ball {cloud} filled it with water till started to rain.

Next we made a cloud out of shaving cream inside the mason jar, squeezed drops of food colors on top of the cloud and waited till it rained down in the water underneath. Took a few attempts to get the shaving cream not so thick so the coloring could seep through.

Then I made up some shaving cream colored with the food coloring on the side for KFC to paint with. She decided finger painting with it was much more fun! Then I realized the food coloring was staining her skin green! Now her forearms, hands, and nail and all tinted green! Oops. 

See the cool tray? I have seen something similar to this on a blog where they use it to keep their crafts contained and to keep the mess in just that area. Last year while at the scrap exchange, I found a stack of these trays for only $1.00! A lot better than hunting down newspaper, which we never have.

... And Together Makes 4!

16 months in the making, we are finally PREGNANT!!!!

Since most people don't know about our Big News, I am keeping a journal of my pregnancy on this blog post that will be saved as a draft until I release the news, or until someone {KFC} spills the beans!

I have been charting my basal body temperatures ever since I started trying with KFC. Taking these temperatures tells you EVERYTHING going on with your cycle!!! I received a + ovulation predictor test on cycle day 19. They say you should ovulate within 12-24 hours. My temps showed exactly that, I ovulated on cycle day 20 (blue line). The slight dip and rise in temps between cycle day 26-27 is when the egg implanted! Pretty neat huh!?

4 Weeks~

February 15

Today I finally got the + pregnancy test! I woke up around 5:30am just because I couldn't sleep anymore since I knew I was planning on testing this morning. I snuck into the bathroom, took test, saw it was + , and got back in bed. Hubby had no clue! I had planned on telling him by taking a picture of KFC and I holding the test, then emailing it to him at work to see how long it took him to find it. After KFC woke up, I told her I wanted to take a funny picture to send to Daddy. She asked what was that I was holding and I told her Daddy will think this 'stick' is funny! :) After many takes with the self-timer on the camera, here is what I sent to Hubby...

Yes, we are still in our PJ's and no make-up on! KFC looks all excited/surprised and she has no clue! After sending Hubby the picture, he called within 15 minutes! He kept asking was I being serious, like I would send him a picture of a negative test to be funny! Then he mentioned how he just got more gray hair!

KFC has been asking for a brother/sister for a LONG time now! I can't wait until I can tell her! This is going to be my most favorite part of this pregnancy- seeing the look on her face, knowing she will be a big sister!!!

As for symptoms, I have had A LOT of pain associated with ovulating and the egg implanting. Lots of cramping and backaches. Yesterday my hips started hurting from the Relaxin now being produced. Today I am super bloated. Hope I can make it till 8 weeks without people wondering why I am getting fat-ER. haha

February 17
Since I have been planning this pregnancy for a long time, I have had lots of time to figure out how I wanted to share our big news. I found a cute picture on Pinterest that I knew I wanted to recreate. I enlisted our friend to help us take the picture. Here is what we finished with and what was to be sent around to the family.

I also wanted a funny one too

After the photoshoot, Hubby and KFC went home while I stayed behind to look at the pictures. When I got home KFC was all excited to know she was going to be a big sister! WHAT!??? She told hubby that mommy was pregnant (found out later she didn't know what pregnant meant, just heard us say it), so Hubby asked her was she excited to have a baby brother or sister? She was like, What? Mommy has a baby in her belly!? Now she knew for sure. Not exactly how I was wanting her to find out, especially because I wasn't there to see it, but she was SO excited none the less. We have warned her not to tell every person she meets! So far so good :)


6 Weeks~
I am now feeling SUPER tired ALL of the time! Everyday seems like a struggle to get motivated to do anything. I can't wait till my body catches up to the fact that a 'parasite' is growing within me and I start to feel more energetic. KFC has been pretty good at letting me take a nap during the day. All of my favorite TV shows seem to come on at 10pm and I can never stay awake that late to see them now. It has started to become very uncomfortable to sleep at night and I'm getting very interrupted sleep because of it. I've had very little nausea so far, just small bouts here and there. Oh yeah, I've also had LOTS of moodiness! haha sorry guys :)

The belly has definitively popped out this week! I know much of what I am seeing is the baby pushing my fat outward, but either way it is getting harder to hide this pregnancy. My hips have widened so most of my regular shirts no longer fit. I bought several maternity shirts at a consignment sale this week but they just emphasize your pregnant belly. It was easy to just wear a coat everywhere to hide my belly, but when its getting close to 80 degrees outside, my options are diminishing. So far I have lost 5 lbs since becoming pregnant!! I have no clue as to what part of my body it was lost from since I feel so huge everywhere!

According to the internet, the baby is now the size of a green pea or .25 inches. It has started to sprout eyes, ears, nose, and a chin. Its hands and feet are still webbed. Its heart is now beating and is starting to circulate blood. Grow Baby Grow!

1st Snow of the Season

While I like snow, I have been happy to have such a warm winter! For the fact that our heating bill has been much lower than last year!!! It was nice to get a quick snow this season. It came in around 5pm Sunday night and was completely melted my Monday afternoon!

KFC was eager to go play in the snow as soon as it started falling. I stayed inside and watched! After warning her that snow is slippery, her feet slipped out from under her and landed right on her butt. Daddy came to the rescue (bottom right)

Our dogs LOVE the snow. Elle has always loved eating thrown snowballs and the tradition continues with Maggie. 

The next morning the snow was all finished. On the railing of the porch it measured 1 1/2 inches, in the yard it measured from 2 1/2 to 3 inches.

KFC's preschool was delayed an hour so we took the extra time to play in the snow. Glad she got to because it was ALL melted my the time I got home. I spent around 40 minutes that morning scraping mounds and mounds of snow off the van! All that effort for just hours later it to be all gone. Oh well, nice work out for me :) 

5 Years Old

Today marks a very happy and sad day for me! 5 years ago today, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of a sweet little baby girl! February 6 2007 is day I never though I would get to experience. This day is a day for me to remember just how fortunate I was to conceive and carry a baby. But as she turns 5 today, she will no longer be considered a "preschooler" as she will be starting school in the fall. I am definitely out of the baby years and on to the school years and that makes me super sad. I always knew that one day she would go to Kindergarten but knew she was years away from it, but oh how quickly 5 years snuck up on me!

Today when she woke up, I asked her how old she was. With wide eyes, she happily replied 5! Then she asked why she wasn't any taller and why her face still looked the same. Told her these things don't change overnight! :)

This year I am starting a thing where every year I will ask her the same set of questions and see how her response changes to them. Here are her '5 Year Old Responses'. We definitely got a kick out of her answers! The last question made me sad because I know how much she wants a brother/sister and she loves to pretend she is having a baby.

Kaile's 22 Questions

5 Years Old

1. What is something Mommy always says to you? Be good

2. What is something Daddy always says to you? Cute

3. What is Mommy really good at? Exercising (yeah right!)

4. What is Daddy really good at? Feed the chickens

5. What do you and Mommy do together? Play games and do crafts

6. What do you and Daddy do together? Play Hide and Seek

7. How do you know Mommy loves you? Because she does

8. How do you know Daddy loves you? Because I'm Cute

9. Favorite Color? Purple/Blue/Pink

10. Favorite Toy? Dolls

11. Favorite TV Show? Phineas and Ferb

12. Favorite Food? Ketchup & Nuggets

13. Favorite Game? Duck Duck Goose

14. Favorite Snack? Goldfish

15. Favorite Animal Elephant/Bird/Bunny

16. Favorite Song? Itsy Bitsy Spider

17. Favorite Book? Green Eggs & Ham/Tinkerbell

18. Best Friend Piper

19. Favorite thing to do outside? Swing/Barbie Car/Dogs

20. Favorite Drink? Juice/KoolAid

21. Favorite think to sleep with? Moses (Bunny)

22. What do you want to be when you grow up? Have kids

Busy Weekend

This past weekend we were asked to watch Cousin P while K&L went away for the weekend. KFC was super excited! At the last minute, I got invited to a girls weekend in Charlotte to visit Ikea! I had never been there before and have ALWAYS wanted to go. And to go with some of my favorite people was the best part! We left around lunchtime Saturday. Itty Bitty LH was driving her parents gigantic 17 passenger van! They were planning on getting some bigger items and that van was awesome to ride in. Felt slightly invincible!

Our family had been nicely invited to go ice skating Saturday afternoon. KFC had never been and I really wanted her to go. Since we did have cousin P and I was going to be gone, I asked Chessy is she would fill in. So happy she said Yes!!! Hubby said the experience was terrible! :( KFC cried the entire time, both girls didn't want to try, it was packed, and cold. SOOO glad I missed that one! Chessy was nice enough to go and ask if they could get a refund since the girls didn't do any skating, and they gave us some lame vouchers for a free skate! If they hated it the first time, probably would hate it the second time. I am going to try and see if they will allow us to exchange them for free swimming!

Hubby even got the girls dressed and ready for the meeting Sunday! So proud! But KFC's hair is looking kinda crazy! Oh well, I think most people knew he was the one in charge of that :) Hubby said KFC ate so good with cousin P there! Love peer pressure!

The girls did great together and played a lot! Hubby even got a few things done around the house. I truly expected to come home to a completely trashed house. Less work I had to complete on Monday!

Back to my trip... We got to Charlotte around 2:30pm and went to check into our hotel. The hotel was Super nice! After some quick relaxing, we decided on food for dinner and went. Finally making it to the Ikea store around 6ish. Saturday was basically our "looking" day. They showed me how Ikea worked and I just walked around in ahhh of the place! I could have taken it ALL home! It was an endless maze of everything you could ever want! I was mostly shocked at the end to see an enormous stockroom filled with whatever you were buying.

The kitchens were ridiculously awesome!!!

I have already started a list of things I want to go back and get for the house! Right now we are about to redo our master closet and that will follow with completing our bedroom. I decided several months back that I wanted our bedroom to be gray and yellow. I found a duvet cover there I want to get. It goes perfect with what I was envisioning. 

I saw these awesome chairs and it even had a child's chair to match! I SOOO want!

This is what the van looked like after everything loaded up! Yes, us 3 girls had to load all those heaving boxes off the store shelves, maneuver it out the store and into the van! We had to work off our carb filled breakfast from that morning.

This is how much I loved this hotel! They had this long super comfy couch in there. This is me after breakfast. The hotel provided an endless buffet of  yummy breakfast food! Everything bad for you, but hey, we're on vacation! We came back to our room and I crashed. While this was one of the comfiest couches I have ever laid on, my hips were hurting by morning.

Between the two days were we there, I think we spent around 7 total hours inside Ikea! By the end of Sunday, my feet were Killing me, my neck was all tense, and I had a headache. I wasn't thinking and brought the wrong kind of shoes for all that. Definitively know for next time. All the pain was well worth it!

So glad I got to join the girls for this trip, totally been needing something like this!