Unofficial 10k

This morning was my first 'run' since the Shamrock half, which was two days after we found out we were pregnant.  I was a little weary about running.  I am still at the gym 3-4 days a week and I do still run with my girls on Monday and Thursday afternoons but nothing more than 2 miles outside.  I know that if I do not make an attempt to keep up my regular fitness level I'm going to lose it all and not be able to work out like I would like to.  So I went for it.  My running partner, DD, still doesn't know that I'm growing a tiny human but he's really good about me running however I want.  Lucky for me, he is trying to work off an injury and suggested doing a slower, steady 6 miles (ended up being 6.2).  Perfect!  And still, I felt normal.  I think I need another ultrasound because I'm going back to thinking that there's nothing in there.  Other than the fact that I have a muffin top in some of the pants I wear, which happens when I put on a few pounds anyway, I still don't feel like I'm pregnant (not complaining, just saying).

Support belt for running

Being able to trot out a 10k got me thinking, as usual.  Maybe if I can keep up my level of fitness and if I get myself one of those belly things for runners, I could jog/walk the Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half-marathon Labor Day weekend. I will be just about 29 weeks at that time.  I'm thinking yes.  On Thursday when I go back to the doctor I'm going to see what she says.  She better say yes too :)

Pregnant in Heels?

They have reality shows for pretty much everything these days.  I recently noticed, but have not watched, that there was a new reality show called Pregnant in Heels.  I have no idea what that's about but I am living it today and I have to ask this question, "How the hell do women wear 3+ inch heels to work, walking around, and out of the town every day?!"



Today is my first official "fat" day.  I woke up this morning with an outfit in my mind, went to put it on (khaki capris, flowy cream top, pink sweater, and cute flower wedges) and KAPOW!  The capri pants that used to be my staple springtime pant became unbearable.  Sure I could have pulled them off because I was wearing a flowy top but I'm pretty sure I would have ended up with perminent pants pressed into my belly.  They would have squeezed the life out of me, I'm pretty sure.  So I took them off and did what any girl who has put on a few extra pounds would do; I threw myself a pity party in front of the mirror as I attempted to jazz up my new frump.



Mine are black



I was able to locate some charcoal carpris, to pair with a black cami, and black textured sweater but still felt yucky so, brilliant me, decides to wear her 4" Jessica Simpson heels to feel more "pretty".  Sadly, it worked... for about an hour.  Now, here I am in the classroom barefooted.  Yippie!  But you know what, it was worth it because people have been commenting on my cuteness all morning.  Vein?  Yes, but you know what?  It's perfectly fine to want to look your best dammit.

Today I am pregnant in heels.  Tomorrow and probably for the next week I will most likely be pregnant in flats or tennis shoes.  At least I'll have time tonight to rethink the old wardrobe.

10 weeks

Baby T's the size of a cherry - Shirley Temples only for me :(

                                   

Fat

There's the babe.  Today I'm 10 weeks and I think that I'm starting to feel fat.  Not pregnant, fat.  Yuck.  This must be what I've read about.  The period of time before I start to show.  Instead of a cute, baby belly I am starting to get a not so fluffy and delicious muffin top.  I notice it the most in my work out clothes.  At least at the gym it may appear that I am there to try to thin out the fluff, I guess.  Glad to see I still have some optimism.  The positive side of this, yes there is one, is that sun-dress season is here to save the day!  I can hide my muffin basket under soft, cute, cotton dresses.  Now I just need to obtain some.

Food

I still wouldn't say that I am having cravings but I have been gravitating toward certain things.  Last week I had a PBJ (and when I ran out of jelly, PB honey) sandwich every day.  This week it's spaghetti with marinara sauce, yum!  I have also enjoyed eating gummy candies of any assortment.  Still hate drinking water and am not particularly interested in eating chicken.

Gym

I'm starting to tell that I'm not able to 'keep up' in my gym classes the way I used to, which is fine since I'm not supposed to be going all out anymore.  I'm still loving spin even thought it's an hour long and I'm about ready to slip into a coma toward the end.  Today I jumped on the cross-trainer to watch Inception in the cardio cinema room.  About 15 minutes in I got really hot and started to feel like my body was on auto-pilot, not the good auto-pilot either.  With 10 minutes left I had to leave.  When I got home I ate my spaghetti and a piece of PB toast and then passed out on the couch... hard.  It felt so good!  Maybe I was just overdone from walking around the zoo all day on a field trip.

Sharing

We're pretty sure that we've now told everyone close to us about the tiny human.  I keep going on to Facebook to make it public but something keeps stopping me.  Weird.  Guess I'll keep waiting.

Big Dreams for the Tiny Tot

Yesterday we went to our first Tides game of the season.  Usually when I got to a ball game with Hubs I have to be careful when to make conversation because, unlike me, he's actually watching most of the game.  Well not this game, my friend.  Today's game went a little differently than normal.  We went to the Tides shop and got our annual gear.  I tried to find a cute t-shirt that will hopefully fit me all season.  Then we went to the giant beer stand only to walk away with one giant beer (sigh #1).  This is sad to say but I don't think that I have been to a Tides game and NOT had at least one giant beer.  First time for everything I guess.  We went down to our awesome seats in the beautifully blazing sun to kick back and enjoy our anniversary.  Little did I know that throughout the game I would find out all of the plans that Hubs has for our little one.  There are a lot.  I don't know when he thinks about all of this but it must be when I'm not looking.  All I have to say is that it's a good thing that this kid's already run his/her first half-marathon because it's going to be busy from year one on.

We are in agreement that our first goal is to survive the first year.  Really it's to survive until baby sleeps through the night and we get to sleep through the night as well.  After that, it's on!

How freakin' cute is this picture?

I'm just going to make a list.  That makes the best sense:

-soccer

-swimming (for fun)

-t-ball and then baseball/softball

-basketball (if it's a boy Hub is going to find some way to have a basketball net at the house)

-girl or boy scouts

-it will be running with me as soon as able

-manners, definitely manners

-piano (Hub is going to learn first though) and then hopefully some kind of love for music will be born

We're both mostly excited that our kid will have both of us in the house.  My parents divorced when I was one and Hubs divorced when he was around six.  We're excited to make a go at beating the odds and think we have an excellent foundation to start our family on.  We're also very thankful for all of the people that will be in our lives to love our children: 6 great-grandmas/pas, 7 grandmas/pas, 2 uncles, and 3 aunts, and great friends.

I got a little lost there but my main point was that Hub couldn't stop talking about all of the hopes, dreams, and wishes he has for our tiny tot - even while watching a baseball game.  I think that's been my favorite part so far.  The look Hub gets when he talks about our little one.

I'm Calling Sushi Shenanigans!

Ok.  The "you can't do ________ while pregnant list" seems to grow daily.  I'm starting to wonder which things need to be debunked as shenanigans.  My first attack will be on sushi.  I would love to wage a war to get wine back but that's one of the only things I agree with.  Oh, and amusement/water parks, unfortunately.

Now, sushi is not in my face on the daily like some other things (lunch meat, wine, hot dogs, etc) but it is my favorite 'go out to eat' food.  Last night Hubs and I went to our favorite sushi place to celebrate our two-year anniversary.  I am not one of those pregnant wives that demand her husband give up all of the things she has to.  It's bad enough that I can't have/do some of our favorite things, I'm not going to force torture on anyone else.  He ordered two rolls and two pieces of sashimi while I ordered wonton/noodle soup, something that I've always wanted to try but never did because I always wanted to have the sushi.  As we ate our anniversary dinner, the wonton soup was DELICIOUS by the way, I got to thinking...

What do Japanese women do when they are pregnant?  Do they also stop eating sushi, which is a staple food in their culture?

I told Hub that I was going to google it when I got home because I wanted to call shenanigans and he responds with, "Look it up right now on your phone."

"What did you find, JTS?" you ask.

Let me tell you what I found, friends... I found that Japanese women eat sushi while pregnant!!

SHENANIGANS!!!!   SHENANIGANS I TELL YOU!!!

Not only did I find articles saying that sushi/sashimi were common staples in Japanese prenatal diets but I also found blog posts from Asian women debunking the 'myth' that sushi is bad for baby while pregnant.  Now, this leads me to another thought... is sushi/sashimi handled or prepared differently in America?  Is that why we were strongly encouraged not to eat it?  Our favorite sushi place is run by native Japanese whom, I'm pretty sure, know exactly what they are doing with the fish.

The question that I'm now left with is: Sushi, to eat? or not to eat?

Parents: 1/2 down, 1/2 to go

Yesterday we got to tell Hubs' dad and my mom/stepdad about the baby!  It was nice to be able to tell Hubs' dad because it really wasn't planned that way.  He just happen to call and say that he was in town for work yesterday morning so I told Hub to see if we all could meet up.

Since we weren't planning to go over to Hubs' family until Easter weekend he had to come up with how he wanted to tell his dad on the drive down to meet him.  He decided to put the ultrasound pictures in a manilla envelope and tell him there was something inside he needed to see.  He also used the phrase, "I need to talk to you about something." So I can't imagine what my father-in-law had running through his mind; especially since I doubt Hub has ever said that phrase to him before.  Once he saw the edges of the pictures he knew immediately.  He was excited and happy for us, which was awesome.  Next weekend, we'll go over to the house so that we can see everyone.  I'm not sure if he's going to keep the news to himself until we can tell Hub's step-mom and sister or if he went home and told them that day.  I guess we'll find out next weekend!

Yes, this is a girls' onsie.  Couldn't find a

unisex one that said Grandma and

Grandpa.  We kept the receipt just in case.

After we left my father-in-law I had to finish packing to head home to my parents' for the week.  My mom had back surgery and I'm going home to help her and my step-dad out since I'm on spring break.  I thought this was excellent timing as well and prepared to share the news once I got to the hospital.  Since we had a bit more time to plan this reveal we headed over to Target.  I got mom a 'Get Well' card and a baby onsie that said "Grandma and Grandpa Love Me".  I put it in a gift bag with pictures from the ultrasound that I had copied and left it up to them to figure out the rest.  Since my sister is away at college, and has been very open about the fact that she wants to be an aunt, I decided to call her on the phone to tell her before I got up to my parents'.  I asked her if she wanted to be called "Aunt" or "Auntie" and she about flipped.  Screamed into the phone and later told me that she even cried a little.  Now I know which one of us got the emotions because it clearly wasn't me :)  She and my besties also insisted that I try to video tape telling my mom.  We were all sure that she'd be the one that freaked the most.  At this point the winner of the freak out award thus far is my sister.  I did video telling my mom and step-dad, it was pretty classic.  My mom kept saying, "Nu-uh!" while holding the onsie up for my step-dad who had a simple reply of, "Are you pregnant?"  Very cute.  I'm still trying to figure out how to get the video off of my phone so I can upload it.  Not that anyone's reading this right now so I have some time still.  Three weeks to be exact.  I don't think we're revealing to the world until I'm actually 12 weeks.  So you all are going to have to wait a bit longer.  Kind of nice for all of you since you don't even know that you're waiting for anything.  Lucky beasts.

Registry

I forgot how exhausting it was to do a registry.  A wedding registry was one thing.  All of that stuff was what WE wanted.  It was a smorgasbord of items at our fingertips.  Today I started a baby registry at Babies 'R' Us with my bestie, RF.  She worked at a daycare forever until she got her permanent job so she knows exactly what, and what not, to get.  I needed her to be excited to shop with me because let's face it, I have no clue what a baby needs and am not afraid to admit it.  Luckily, she's stoked that I'm preggo and couldn't wait to go to the store with me.  I'm so lucky!

Thank God she was willing to help because I wouldn't have know where to begin.  Monitors, body pillows, bottles, bedding, diapers, butt paste, baby utensils, , bouncers, bassinets, toys, books, videos, chairs, oh my!  After almost two hours and a massive headache later we had successfully jump started our baby registry.  What's on there now are the little things.  Things that Hub wouldn't have an idea or opinion on.  He and I will go back another time to pick out the big things:  crib (we've already picked this out), dresser, glider, swing, pack-n-play, and any other types of room decorations.

It was fun but damn, does a baby really need all of that?  

9 weeks

Today we are nine weeks along.  Hard to believe that there are only 31 weeks left and I STILL don't feel pregnant.  According to my book the tiny one is the size of a grape now.  Kind of makes me not want to eat grapes, you know?  Creepy.  I have also learned, after reading along some more, that all of the muscles, organs, and nerves are in place and beginning to function.  The big plus is that tiny "T" no longer has a tail! That is always a plus.  I guess he/she is going to take after its' older brother Kale.  Well, he has a nubbin tail... I'm going to retract that previous statement now.  It can resemble a regular human child instead of its' fur brothers.

Hubs keeps calling tiny "T" her and she while my bestie, RF, keeps referring to it as "he".  At this point I have no clue.  RF thinks it's a boy because I'm having similar symptoms to her pregnancy, which were little to none, and she has a boy.  But after talking to my mom about when she was pregnant with me and my sister, I found out that she really didn't have any symptoms either.  So I'm at a loss.  No idea which it will be.  My books says gender organs have formed but aren't going to be visible for weeks.  If we do go in around 20 weeks to find out the sex that will be the week of July 4th.  It seems like so far away but I know it will be here before I know it.

Baby T's a grape!  I wasn't able to eat grapes this week...
hopefully you understand why.

                                         

Still feel great, working out normally, and I weigh in at 141lbs.  I started out at 140lbs. and have been eating when hungry, which isn't all that often.  Maybe that's the version of morning sickness that I've been given.  If it is, I'll take it.  I will tell you what though, allergy season is NOT the time to be pregnant.  I have severe spring allergies.  There are mornings when I'll wake up to my eyes being sealed shut from watering all night long.  Since I'm pregnant I'm not able to take my normal barrage of allergy drugs, which consist of a double does of prescription strength pills + nose spray + eyedrops + the occasional Benedryl in between the prescription.  Nope, now I'm restricted to over the counter Claritin once a day and a Benedryl at night to help me sleep.  Horrible.  Up until today it has actually worked out pretty well.  Now that I'm back home for the week in the mountains, my old allergies are stirring.  It feels like nothing is working.  If there ever comes a day where I can prove that snot has some valuable medicinal quality, like cures Cancer,  then I will be a millionaire because I am a human snot factory.  Disgusting.  Thankfully when I head back to the coast this misery will be left behind.

Fun baby facts:  we have now been able to tell our closest friends, my father-in-law, my mom/step-dad/sister, and my one out of five sets of great-grandparents.  That's right.  This kid is going to have FIVE sets of great-grandparents and FOUR sets of grandparents.  What a lucky kiddo.  I guess our parents' divorces and re-marriages are going to benefit someone, which is a happy thing.  That is one thing that we are excited about.  Our kids won't know much of anything about divorce.  Hubs' mother and father are both remarried, my mom is remarried, and my dad never remarried.  I can't wait until we're able to go over to my mother-in-law's this weekend to tell them!  I wish we all lived a bit closer so we could have told all of our parents at the same time, or at least the same weekend.  Since we wanted to tell them in person it's taking a bit longer than we would have liked.  I still haven't figured out when I'm going to travel over to Maryland to tell my grandparents, grandmother, and dad.  Right now it's looking like Thursday 4/21.

We've also picked out some wall decorations for the nursery and I think we found a crib set that we like. We've only looked online so far so we'll have to go check it out in person.  Next weekend I'm going browsing with bestie so that she can start showing me what to buy and what to avoid.

Craving?

Today I ate a whole bag of Combos.  Not all in one sitting, but still.  The bag was opened around noon and now, at 10:00pm, it's empty.  I'm glad that I didn't get the large bag but still... that was 7 servings, 130 calories per serving (910 calories) ugh.  I also ate a bag of pretzel M&Ms (150 calories).  

My inner Weight Watcher is at war with the tiny human...

I blame Gold's Gym for not letting me work out today.

Want to Hang Out?

Before I headed up to my mom's there were two more people that had to be told about Baby T, the other besties, RH and NH.  I was already convinced that they were onto us.  A few months ago NH saw the baby names book that Hubs and I got when we decided to start trying.  Hubs tried to make up a story about why we had it but I was pretty sure he wasn't buying it.  I have also hung out with them a few times since finding out and hadn't had wine, which never happens.  I don't know.  I just feel like those two feel our vibes.  Hubs was convinced that when we did tell them RH would say, "I knew it!"

Well, today was the day.  We had to invite ourselves over, which usually isn't too hard.  Tonight however, NH actually had plans.  I suggested an early dinner and they agreed!  Success!  We went over to grill out and while the boys were cooking I told RH that I brought something for her to see.  I then proceeded to whip out the ultrasound pictures from my purse and got to watch her freak out right before my eyes.  It was amazing!  She didn't know!!  In retrospect she thought back about time we've hung out and all of that and began to put the pieces together.  They were super excited since our kids will be less than two years apart.  We had a great dinner, RH gave me some preggo books to read, and that was it.  Oh, she also got out her son's ultrasound pictures so that we could compare - so cute!  They're thinking that we're going to have a boy since I have virtually no symptoms however, NH did have a dream about us painting the nursery pink (which I would not do but you get the idea).  They're big on dream interpretation so there is an inkling that it could possibly be a girl.  We'll see come July!

Who spilled the beans?

We did!  I know that the original plan was to have this glorious Mother's Day 'reveal' of Baby T and that would have worked if my ultrasound date hadn't changed suddenly.  May 3rd was supposed to be the day that I got my visual and auditory confirmation and then that weekend would have been the baby extravaganza.  Since our ultrasound got unexpectedly changed to April 14th, I got my pictures, and saw the heartbeat Hubs and I practically had a race to see who could get to the phone first.  Of course this 'race' is figurative since we have cell phones, but you get the idea.

I am still pretty sure that we're not going to have a Facebook/blog reveal to The World until Mother's Day weekend, but we felt pretty good about letting close friends and family know now.  So the new plan is this:

On Thursday we called people that weren't close enough to go see.  Hubs called his besties who both live at least an hour away and both already have kids of their own.  They were excited.  Then it was my turn and we had the perfect way to tell her... by texting a picture of the ultrasound and nothing else.  You see, when she was pregs with her 3rd that's how she told everyone; a text of the positive pregnancy test.  So we figured, "All's fair."  The best part about doing this was that NO ONE was expecting it.  Like I said before, in public we were very wishy-washy on the whole baby situation so I am sure a lot of people just assumed that we may never have kids at all.  Bad part about the text idea - she didn't freakin' get it!  Foiled.  So I call her and tell her that I texted her a picture and was dying to know what she thought about it.  This is normal for us because we always send picture messages of funny license plates and bumper stickers.  I don't know how that tradition started, but it did.  We're really good at it.  Anyway, back to the story.  I text this picture to her 3 times and nothing.  So, I email it... nothing.  Why is this being so difficult?  At this point I am on the phone with her for over 20 minutes and am dying so I gave up.  I told her I was just going to explain it to her.  I told her that Hubs and I took a picture of something that we made for her youngest son (6 months old).  When she asked what it was I said, "A friend."  It took her a few seconds to register it and then all I got were, "Oh my goshes" and "Squeals".

Then it was on to dinner with LC and MW at our monthly ladies' night.  I definitely couldn't hold it in very long after getting off of the phone with RD moments before I walked into the restaurant.  I got to the table, said hello, sat down, and was asked, "How've you been?"  I had a simple, giggling reply for them, "I'm pregnant"  I think it came out as somewhat of a whisper but their faces were amazing.  I have to say that I'm so glad that we're having babies later in life.  So far everyone has been excited and that feels really great.

There really IS a baby in there!

It's been about a month since I started my secret pregnancy posts.  Until Easter they will remain secret.  

Well, if you have caught up on my stories, you know that I'm not quite convinced that I am actually pregnant.  The only 'symptoms' that I have are decreased appetite and exhaustion both of which I really wouldn't have thought twice about if I didn't get that positive pregnancy test.  The past week or two I have basically told Hubs that, "I'll believe it when I see it," which wasn't supposed to be until our first ultrasound on May 3rd.  The appointment lady said that was the earliest time she could get me in even though my doctor wanted me to have one either this week or next since we weren't sure about a due date.  I asked if she could call me if an appointment opened up.  I honestly didn't think I would hear from her.

Then this morning while the kids were at PE she called to see if I could come in... TODAY at 2:30pm.  Well, that really threw a wrench into my plans.  I wasn't planning on telling my principal, or anyone for that matter, until after the first trimester.  I was especially nervous about telling work because of the fact that I'm only a sub but am really hoping for a position next year.  Who wants to hire a pregnant lady?  I know, I know... "That's illegal," you say.  Yes, but it's still a little scary.  So now I was in the position where I had to ask to leave early and I was going to have to tell her why.  Hubs said not to worry and just do it.  So I did.  She guessed before I could even tell her anything.  Women's intuition? Either way she was ecstatic, gave me hugs, said I was 'glowing', and made sure that I did still want a job for next year if one were to open up.  Then she told me not to worry that she would have my class covered.  Excellent!!  This truly is my Heaven school in every way.

"Baby T" due 11/22/11

Hubs met me at the doctor's office, he also had to tell work because I was either pregnant or dying since this was my 2nd doctor's appointment in the past two days.  The ultrasound tech asked how far along I thought I was and we told her we were guessing about 8 weeks with a due date of 11/21/11.  She did her little ultrasound thing and what do you know?  There was a freakin' baby in my uterus!  Well I'll be dammed! There it was in all of its' jellybean-shaped glory.  Crazy fast heartbeat and little "T-Rex" arms. It was even wiggling around in there a little bit.  The first thing the tech said was, "Looks like there's only one little person in there."  Phew.  Then she said that I was 8 weeks 2 days pregnant and have a due date of 11/22/11.  We were pretty much dead on with our guess.  We got to hear the heartbeat too.  

I'm still holding strong for the kiddo to make an appearance on 11/11/11.  That is definitely in the realm of possibility.  You may say, "Tacky, cheesy, cliche'."  I say, "freakin' amazing!"

After getting pictures of our little T-Rex, as Hubs has nicknamed, we decided we couldn't hold it in any longer.  We began making a list of who and how to tell before the big Facebook reveal.  We made a few phone calls tonight to some friends, tomorrow we're surprising our 2nd set of besties, and then Saturday I'm off to tell my parents.  Parents get told in person with some cutesy gift or something extra special.  This weekend it's my parents and then next weekend, for Easter, we're going to travel to his parents.  So excited!  I think they're going to freak!

First Appointment

Today we had our first prenatal appointment.  When I made the appointment I had to ask how long it would take so that I could take off of work.  They told me it could take up to two hours!!  I'm glad that it only took one, phew.  Hub met me at the doctor's office, which is super nice by the way; they just opened the new branch a week ago.  Let me tell you what, I have the best OB ever.  Everyone is so nice, especially when you're pregnant.

We went back and I talked with the nurse who gave me a folder of information ranging from nutrition, to prenatal screenings, to delivery information.  I was like, "Whoa!".  One thing at a time people.  Like I said in a previous post, I'm not quite convinced there's a little T in my belly.  I was a little disappointed that I wasn't going to get an ultrasound this appointment but the doctor said that she wanted one within a week to date the baby and all that good stuff.  Too bad when I went to check out the lady scheduled me for my ultrasound on May 3rd (that's definitely not next week).  I will probably call and push for an earlier appointment since I'll be on spring break next week.

This appointment wasn't very astronomical.  Hubs got to witness me getting violated by the doctor, which thoroughly disturbed him (hehe) and I got a bunch of blood drawn.  The doctor says that "I feel" about 8 weeks - I'm glad she could feel something because I definitely do not.  Guess I'll find out for sure in about 3 weeks.

8 weeks

So today I'm 8 weeks pregnant, which means baby is only 6 weeks old.  I can't wait to go to my first prenatal appointment so that I can have my doctor explain this crazy timeline to me.  While tiny baby has little arm and leg buds, it's overall appearance still creeps me out.  I will probably say this every week but... that's what our baby looks like?!  How does that grow into a human?

I finally think that I've gained some weight.  Either that or I just ate too much last night.  I weighed 139 lbs. this morning.  I'm secretly hoping that weight sticks for a little while.  Still on track either way according to the internet.

Kidney bean baby!

This past week I have decided that I am not going to believe that there is a baby in there until I see it on an ultrasound or hear the heartbeat with a doppler.  I don't feel any different!  If there is a baby in there then I'm going to count my blessings because this has been pretty easy so far.  I read on the baby website that I frequent that one woman, while shopping for groceries, had to throw up in her daughter's coat because of the smell of the meat.  Let me tell you.  I would die if I couldn't go to the grocery store.  I don't have heightened senses, morning sickness, sore bresticles, or anything.  I could take a nap at any point of the day but Hubs would say that was normal.  I do have less of an appetite but it's not because I'm necessarily feeling 'sick'.  I am still working out normally, which I hope to maintain throughout.

So, I'm being honest here when I say that I'm not quite sure this is 100%.  I get why people don't tell until 12 weeks.  My first prenatal appointment is Wednesday.  After that I will feel much more confident in this new journey in my life.

On another note, Hub is really into all of this baby stuff, which excites me.  This weekend we decided which bedroom would turn into the nursery.  Not only did we decide, we started the conversion.  If you've been reading my blog you know that this weekend Hubs got the great idea to put our office in the back bedroom, right?  Well, it's not because we wanted more space.  It's because we're using the second bedroom as the nursery and want to get the room emptied out, de-popcorned, and primed for whatever color paint we're going to change it to.

Side note: AS - I know you want me to run the Shamrock Marathon next March and I am truly going to make an attempt at doing it.  This time you're NOT the pregnant one... I am.  But, if I can keep as active as I have been throughout the pregnancy I definitely know that 3 months is plenty of time to prepare myself for a marathon.  Even if I'm doing the grandpa shuffle :)

Oh.  SandS Photography, you're hired!

Names

This is not the post where I share the names that we're thinking about.  Honestly the list is too long at this point anyway.  Hopefully the name game will be much easier come July after we find out what we're having.

No, this post is to vent about the ridiculous names I have seen on the baby website public forum I have joined.  Not to mention the names that I USED to see at my old school.  C'mon people.  I always joked that I'm naming my kids names like Amy, Bob, Tom, Jean, etc.  Some of these name "trends" have really gotten out of control.

Since I have a month until the big reveal I will most likely be updating this post with new name rants and rules.  Here's my short list as of April 8th:

Don't do it if:

1. You have to sound out your child's name like it's in the dictionary (ex. Eliana "el-ee-an-ah") to make sure it gets pronounced correctly.

2. The name contains symbols (ex. La-a)

3. The name is the same as your last name (ex. Richard Richardson)

4. You're creating a Jr., III, IV, etc. (I know this may tweek some nerves but I, personally, dislike this)

5. You're naming your child after an inanimate object or imaginary superhero (ex. Apple - sorry Gwyneth, Kal El - Really Nicholas Cage?, Moxie CrimeFighter - what!?  Penn from Penn & Teller) I know that my dog's name is Kale but he's a dog and kids don't make fun of him.

Do it if:

1. It's a family name that has special meaning.

2. You're paying tribute to someone important in your life.

I'm out of steam on this rant.  I do, however, want to give a quick shout out to my bestie, RF.  We didn't quite understand why you didn't want to share A's name until he was born.  I would like to say now that I get it.  We're having a hard enough time agreeing on names that we both like.  Throwing more opinions in the mix is a recipe for disaster.  At this point we aren't sharing a thing.  Whether or not we keep the name on the down low until the birth is undecided.

Don't worry guys.  Even though I'm due the week of Thanksgiving we will not be introducing our child as the following:

Cranberry Rae

Pumpkin Pye

Sweet Potato

Thomas Turkey

Bean Casserole

Gravy Boat

Cinnamon Stix

Harvest Moon

And with that... I'm done.  Goodbye for now.

Food Revolution

I may have finally achieved freedom from food! 

I have been on Weight Watchers for the past five years.  While it has successfully prevented me from gaining ridiculous ammounts of weight, it has also made me obcessed with food.  This food obcession is not necessarily a good thing.  While I did not "binge" on chips and sweets before, I found myself losing control around them.  I couldn't just have one bite or a few chips.  It was all or nothing.

My body also did not feel the need to tell me when it was full.  Not good at all.  So I would eat myself into oblivion and then feel like death afterwards.  Hubs never understood how I couldn't tell that I was full. 

So here I am.  Seven weeks pregnant and enjoying a food revolution!  No, I don't have any crazy cravings or extreme morning sickness.  What I do have, I feel, is a normal body... finally.  I feel hungry at normal times (right now it's every 2-3 hours), I feel full after eating something as little as a banana for a snack, and my body is actually rejecting stuff that I really shouldn't be eating.  Sadly, because of that last factor, I have given up ice cream.  Even when I take Lactaid with it, I wake up feeling nautious and disgusting the entire next day.  Tried it twice, no more for me thanks.

The hardest part was acutally accepting the fact that I would have to give Weight Watchers up during the pregnancy.  You calculate everything you put into your mouth for five years and then all the sudden stop.  It's hard.  I do still write my food down but I don't track "points".  Since Weight Watchers has given me the knowledge to make healthy choices, I am no longer at its' mercy.  I honestly excpected to immediately gain five pounds after cutting myself off from Weight Watchers, but I haven't.  I have actually lost a pound, which is fine with me since I'm only supposed to gain 1-5lbs. in the first trimester.  I have 4 1/2 more weeks to put a pound or two on.

I have also given up coffee/caffine.  I'm allowed to have 200mg a day but I thought, "what the hell?" and tossed it.  I'm tired, very tired, but I haven't gone on any murderous rampages yet so I'll chalk that up as a win.

7 weeks

Today I am 7 weeks pregnant.  Apparently our baby looks like this now.  I'm still beyond baffled that turns into a human.  My first appointment is in a week and two days.  I wonder if they're going to do an ultrasound.  Maybe with these pictures I'll be able to make out the picture of the baby unlike Rachel in Friends.  Haha.  I loved that show.  Anyway.  Maybe they'll just listen for a heartbeat.  I don't know.  All I know is that they better make sure there's actually something in there because I don't have any symptoms still (knock on wood).  

Blueberry baby!

I do feel queasy in the morning until I eat something for breakfast and I feel little stretches in my lower abdomen, but that's about it.  Right now I'm watching I didn't know I was pregnant and let me tell you what, if we weren't trying to have a baby... I probably wouldn't know I was 7 weeks pregnant right now.  

Still wearing the same clothes, I weight 137.2 according to my scale which is the same that I have weighed for a while now, and there definitely isn't any bump emerging.  I'm happy that you can't look at me and tell because we still have 5 more weeks to hide this and I'm going home soon for spring break.

Oddly, my mom told me last night that she had a dream that my bestie, RF, had another baby and asked if she was pregnant.  I almost choked.  My mom was certain that she had some dream premonition that someone close to her was pregnant.  For once her wacky dreams were right just wrong person.

It's me mom!

Exposure to Friends

This past week I have seen two of my good friends in person.  It didn't used to be this hard to just go hang out.

What should I wear?   Am I bloated?  Will the think I look like I've gained weight (I haven't but my pants are starting to get a little tight)   What if they try to get me to drink?  Will they find it weird when I refuse?

Thursday night

I met up with NP for a light dinner at Chili's.  In one of my earlier posts I mentioned how she wanted to take me to this awesome sushi place and I didn't know how I was going to get out of it.  I found a way.  Well, a way found me.  She wanted to hang out on Thursday night and I already had plans so I made her a part of them.  It worked out great!  We had chips/salsa/salads and a great time at Chili's and then went over to the movie theater to meet up with AK and DD to watch the documentary "My Run".  The movie was great.  Not as good as "The Spirit of the Marathon" but it was still good.  I am glad that NP liked it as well. She's not into running the way that AK, DD, and I are so I wasn't sure how she'd like a documentary about a man who ran a marathon every day for 75 days.  I had a great time and never felt the, "they know I'm pregnant" moments.

Friday night

Here was the real challenge.  My bestie, RF, and I only see each other a few times a month.  I realized that it had been a while since we hung out so I posed that we do something this weekend.  She suggested Friday night.  So, we decided to have an impromptu game night at her house.  Well, she has a 1 year old whom I LOVE and I have asked her 18,000 questions throughout her pregnancy and the first year of his life.  Now, when I want to spill the beans, she's the one I want to tell and can't!!!  Hubs and I debated telling them on the drive over.  I'm already convinced that she knows because of some kind of bestie ESP.  I feel like she reads my vibes and facial expressions.  This friend encounter was going to be more difficult because I was 95% sure that there would be wine involved.  Last time this happened I was getting ready to run a half-marathon and always swear off alcohol before.  This time, no excuse.  We played SceneIt, Farkle, and Uno.  Over 4 hours of feeling like she was reading my pregnant vibes.  This was horrible because I know that I don't have a good poker face at all.  Out came the wine and with it, four glasses... sh*t.  I said that I was already exhausted (true) and that if I had any wine I wouldn't last very long.  Bestie came back with a, "it's a light, white - you should be fine"  sh*t.  So at this point I laugh softly and shrug the drink off.  Worried that the jig was up (I never turn down wine) I decided to grab Hubs glass, put it to my lips, and appear to try it.  I gave my opinions on how it was light but it was almost like a juice so I'd pass.  Did my plan work?  Hubs didn't know what I was doing and got a horrified look on his face (haha).  I had to explain my master plan hours later in the car ride home.  Later a bottle of red wine was cracked and I swear it smelled like Kahula and stated that out loud.   Bestie gave me another curious look.  Sh*t.  I decided to just keep my freakin' mouth shut about anything suspect the rest of the night.

If she doesn't know... she suspects.  When we do tell she's going to say something like, "I knew it!"  or "I thought you might be!"  It's bad enough that her Hubs discovered the baby naming book we bought back in November when we decided to start trying.  They know...  I know it...

Off friend topic, kind of baby development item from last night: I had to unbutton the top button of my jeans (sigh).  I felt like my uterus was getting crushed when I was leaning over to play games.  No good.