19 Weeks Pregnancy Update

March 21, 2018

How far along:

19 weeks

Baby is the size of a:

Mango or a Gameboy. Fox is always so excited to see what size toy the baby is each week, but he was rather disappointed with this week, since he has no clue what a Gameboy is.

Total weight gain:

Surprisingly, I didn’t gain any weight this week. Still up 17lbs.

Maternity Clothes?

Still both. I can’t wait to fill out my maternity pants, because they are still not fitting right.

Stretch Marks?

No

Sleep?

It’s been ok. I don’t sleep well without Katie here and having Fox sleeping with me definitely doesn’t help, but it’s oh so sweet. He asks to sleep on my side every night and cuddles right up to me. Sometimes he will even put his arm around me, so how can I complain about that? I usually only get up once to use the bathroom nowadays, so that has been so amazing for me as well.

Best moment of the Week:

We had our anatomy scan this week! Since Katie wasn’t able to come, I invited my mother in law to join, since I knew she would love to see the baby. She cried almost the entire time! I love ultrasounds, but this one was really special, because it was super long and they switched to the 3D View a few times, so we could really take a look at that sweet boy. He was really curled up in there, with his legs all the way on top of his head.

The ultrasound tech wasn’t allowed to tell us anything besides gender, so we have to wait for my next appointment next week to talk to the doctor about the results.

Movement:

I have been feeling him every day this week. It’s still a weird feeling for me, but I love it and I’m enjoying it before his kicks are getting stronger and he’ll kick me in the rips.

Food Cravings:

Nothing special. It’s so nice to be able to eat normal again and not feeling sick anymore.

Belly Button in or out:

Definitely in.

Gender:

Sweet baby boy!

Symptoms:

Overall, I’m feeling really good. I will never take this feeling for granted ever again and I’m so grateful and happy that the worst seems to be over. I’m tired, but I think it’s just normal tiredness from everything I have going on.

Pregnancy Acne is still present as well, but I don’t care about it very much this time around.

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?

NOTHING! Hallelujah!

Have you Started to Show yet?

Katie’s family commented this week how big I have gotten. I love that belly so much!

What I miss:

Katie! This week has been kicking my butt. Just when I thought I got this single mom life down, Fox got strep throat including fevers, constant vomiting and an allergic reaction to his medication. We ended up at Urgent Care one night and the pediatrician a couple of days later and dealing with all of this myself was hard. He was in such bad shape that I had to carry him and all of our bags everywhere and at one point I felt like my pregnant body was giving out on me and I almost passed out at the pharmacy while waiting for his prescription. It wasn’t so much that I needed help taking care of Fox, but I missed having someone to make decisions with me, especially when it came to his allergies and the medication and it would’ve also been nice to have someone else to share the worries with. I was so worried about him at night and constantly checked on him. But we made it through and now I feel like there’s nothing I can’t handle. Props to all the single Mamas out there, you are amazing!

What I'm looking forward to:

My next doctor’s appointment and Fox feeling good again!

What I'm not looking forward to:

Another week of single parenting.

You can find Fox’s 19 week pregnancy update HERE!

Easter Egg Smash

I can always count on my friend Kristy to join in on Pinterest ideas that seem like they will be a total fail and take forever to set up.

I saw this idea a few years ago and didn't get around to try it out last year, so when I remembered it a few weeks ago and texted Kristy, I knew she was going to be on board. 

We met up at a park on a Sunday morning and these boys were excited to see each other again. I don't think we played with Jake since we went to Winter Wonderland in early December, because I was avoiding anything that would drag me away from the couch or toilet. Ha!

So the idea was to empty out eggs and fill them with paint instead and have the boys smash them onto a white canvas. I pictured the canvas standing up instead of laying down, but Kristy had the idea to lay them on the grass instead, so it would be easier to hit it for the boys, which was probably the key to our success. 

I gave Fox a dozen filled eggs, Jake had a little more I believe. They smashed each egg multiple times until it really exploded on the canvas. I thought we would be done with this project in two minutes flat, but I was surprised how long they enjoyed this activity.

Jake liked to smash his eggs with his feet instead...you can see how different their pictures turned out at the end because of his technique, but I love them both so much!

Fox never enjoyed painting very much, but he as a weekly art class at school and has been asking me to do "Messy artwork" at home, so this was right up his alley. 

Aren't they both so cool? I really, really love them and we already hung Fox's in his room. He was so proud!

While it was messy and not fast to set up, I would definitely do this again next year, if Fox would be interested in doing it again!

18 Weeks Pregnancy Update

March 14, 2018

How far along:

18 weeks

Baby is the size of a:

Bell Pepper

Total weight gain:

17lbs.

Maternity Clothes?

Still both

Stretch Marks?

No

Sleep?

This week has been rough sleep wise, but only because I promised Fox that he can sleep in my bed while Mommy is on vacation and that kid is a wild sleeper. I separate us with my pregnancy pillow so he doesn’t kick me in the stomach and back all night long, but most of the night, he sleeps on top of said pillow or flops around the entire bed. Combine that with having to get up for the bathroom and sleep insomnia, I’m definitely getting prepared for sleepless nights this week. But he’s so happy and feels so special that he can sleep with me, I wouldn’t have it any other way right now.

Best moment of the Week:

I felt the baby move for the first time this weekend and have been feeling it every day since.

Movement:

See above!

Food Cravings:

Nothing special.

Belly Button in or out:

Definitely in.

Gender:

Check out my gender reveal post to find out, if you haven't yet!

Symptoms:

Still feeling good and I’m so grateful! I had a crazy amount of energy one day this week and cleaned out my entire closet and went through all the baby stuff we have! I even dropped off two trash bags full of stuff to Goodwill. To give you an idea, my closet is about 12 feet long and you could only enter the first three feet because we had so many boxes and clutter piled up on the floor. Now I can go all the way in the back! It felt amazing!

Still tired at night, but I’ve been running solo for a week with Fox and household duties, so that’s probably why.

Pregnancy Acne seems to be getting worse.

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?

Not eating in regular intervals.

Have you Started to Show yet?

Getting bigger every week.

What I miss:

A good night’s sleep and Katie! She’s been gone for almost a week now, so we still have two more weeks to go!

What I'm looking forward to:

My anatomy scan is in two days, can’t wait to see our little baby!

What I'm not looking forward to:

Nothing at the moment.

You can find Fox’s 18 week pregnancy update HERE!

One Second Everyday | 2017 Edition

Always my favorite project of the year, but with me being so sick for the last few months, it totally slipped my mind to post it. Better late than never, right?

365 days, one second everyday, this was our 2017!

We are having a...

I'm not sure what took me so long to post this. We found out the gender of our sweet baby on January 31st and I was just 12 weeks pregnant. It felt super early to already know and we had just announced the pregnancy on social media, so we kept the gender to ourselves for four more weeks, besides sharing it with family and close friends. I would've been fine to just wait until the birth to find out, because deep in my heart, I already knew at conception that we were having a...

BOY!

The nurse handed me an envelope with the gender that morning and I just put it in my purse and handed it to our photographer in the afternoon, because we had our gender reveal pictures scheduled in the desert that evening. Katie wanted to peek into the envelope, but I convinced her to just find out as a family and I'm so glad we did. We didn't have a real gender reveal for Fox, we just invited our family to come to the ultrasound and I''m happy with the way we did it this time. If we had another one, I'd love to do a gender reveal party, but that ship has sailed...ha!

I had purchased some smoke bombs off Amazon and we had to close our eyes while Sam lit them for us. It was funny, because they didn't last long at all and there wasn't much smoke, but when we lit the pink ones afterwards just for fun, it was soooo much smoke and so vibrant. 

Fox had always told us, that he ONLY wanted a brother, and if it was a girl, he would run out of the house screaming. I was so excited for him...although I would've loved to see his reaction if the smoke would've been pink...ha! 

He was so happy! I will post the video I took at the end of this post, because it just shows his excitement. Although, my favorite part of the video is at the very end, when he walks out of the screen and says: "I already knew it was a boy!" LOL

Yep, I knew too!

There was no doubt in my mind that we would have another sweet baby boy. I think I mentioned it before, we know a lot of Fox's half siblings who used the same donor, and there are like 12 boys and 2 girls, so I knew the odds for a boy were very high. 

The doctor kind of ruined it a little for me too though. When we went into the ultrasound room that morning, I told him that I don't want to know the gender. He replied: "Oh, you're stealing my thunder!" So when we did the ultrasound, he said: "If you don't want to know the gender, then don't look too closely at the screen!" REALLY??? Katie said that meant nothing, but I feel like that was a very obvious way of saying it was a boy, right? I was so upset. Then at my next ultrasound, he was like" "You're having a girl, right?" 

So with this being our last pregnancy, of course we both were kind of hoping for a girl this time around, but like I said, I would've been SHOCKED if it was. My heart prepared for a boy and I'm so happy that Fox will have a brother and best buddy to grow up with. I can't wait to see their bond. Not, that you can't have that with a sister, but you know what I mean.

Plus, we will save so much money because we literally have everything we need besides diapers. 

It took me a few days to come to terms with the fact that I will never have a daughter (something I always dreamed off), but the most important thing is that the baby is healthy, as cliche' as it sounds. It's so, so true and health is not something we will ever take for granted. And if this baby is just as sweet as our first baby boy, then there's nothing else I could hope for. There are so many times during the day where Fox just randomly tells me that he loves me and it melts my heart every time and then I realize: Wow, I get to do this all over again...how lucky am I?

Very lucky indeed! Boy Mom for life! :) 

17 Weeks Pregnancy Update

March 7, 2018

How far along:

17 weeks

Baby is the size of an:

Onion

Total weight gain:

About 16lbs.

Maternity Clothes?

Maternity Clothes and regular clothes.

Stretch Marks?

Not yet.

Sleep?

I noticed that I’m exhausted the next day, if I have to get up twice to pee every night. The nights where I only get up once, I feel so much better the next day. Still tossing and turning all night long, waking up frequently and having crazy dreams.

Best moment of the Week:

I felt so much better this week (knock on wood). My energy levels are getting better and I only have slight nausea every now and then. I feel like a whole new person! Haven’t taken my anti nausea meds in a week, so hopefully I’ll be done with them for good. Hallelujah, I thought this day would never come (or not until August at least!).

Movement:

None.

Food Cravings:

I don’t know if this was a craving, but I discovered the most amazing chicken fried rice from Costco and have been eating it almost daily this week.

Belly Button in or out:

Definitely in.

Gender:

You’ll find out soon! Still trying to find time to finish that post!

Symptoms:

Wow, reading back from Fox’s 17 week update I realized, that I could just copy and paste what I wrote back then. Feeling somewhat normal has been so amazing for my body and spirit.

I’m still cramping every now and then (ligament pain maybe?) and nights could be better, but overall, I’m so happy not to throw up anymore and not feeling starved and nauseous all day. Pregnancy Acne is still present as well, but I can deal with that.

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?

Not eating in regular intervals.

Have you Started to Show yet?

Still waiting for that first stranger to comment on it. At this point I could be either pregnant or a little chubby, but I’m carrying that belly proudly! I love it so much!

What I miss:

Sleeping through the night (although I won’t expect to get that back until sometime next year) and having a lot of energy. I also missed Coke this week, which is funny, because I had my last Coke over 1.5 years ago.

What I'm looking forward to:

My anatomy scan next week! So excited (and nervous at the same time).

What I'm not looking forward to:

Katie is leaving in a few days for her big trip. She will be gone for three weeks and I’m a little worried on how we’ll do. Truth to be told, I have never slept in our house without her and it makes me nervous. Wish me luck!

You can find Fox’s 17 week pregnancy update HERE!

16 Weeks Pregnancy Update

February 28, 2018

How far along:

16 weeks

Baby is the size of an:

Avocado

Total weight gain:

14lbs.

Maternity Clothes?

Still wearing regular clothes with some maternity clothes mixed in here and there.

Stretch Marks?

None. I think I have to switch stretchmark lotions though, because the smell of mine makes me nauseous.

Sleep?

Has been a little better this week. Only getting up once for the bathroom now, which has been great.

Best moment of the Week:

We announced the gender on social media and everyone was so excited for us! I also had an ultrasound this week, which is always super exciting. The baby was much more chill this time around.
I also had a really fun brunch with some friends at my favorite restaurant.

Movement:

None.

Food Cravings:

Salads, Pancakes and Bagels with Cream Cheese are still a hit as well.

Belly Button in or out:

Definitely in.

Gender:

I will post our gender reveal pictures soon!

Symptoms:

Reading back my pregnancy update with Fox at 16 weeks, made me realize that I felt better by now. Which kind of freaks me out, because I have been getting worse over the last week or so and throw up almost every morning now. Super weird. But, there is nothing I can do about it besides hope that it will pass soon.

Still tired, but could be worse.

Anything Making you queasy or Sick?

Eating, not eating, driving, certain smells…but I’m feeling queasy pretty much every minute of every day.

Have you Started to Show yet?

You wouldn’t be able to tell when you see me on the street. The bump is there, but I mostly wear loose fitting clothes.

What I miss:

The usual. Energy, feeling good, sleeping through the night.

What I'm looking forward to:

My anatomy scan is scheduled in two weeks, which is a 45 minute ultrasound. While I’m nervous that they will find something, I’m excited to see our baby a little longer and hopefully feel some peace about the health after.

What I'm not looking forward to:

It’s Show Week again, which means long hours, a weekend full of work and no rest. Katie is going on vacation in about a week, and I’m freaking out a little. I’m totally fine taking care of Fox by myself over an extended period of time and have done so multiple times in the past, but I get so sick at night and already feel sad for him to not have his wild playing buddy each night. He’s excited though and asks me every day how many more days, he said we will have lots of playdates and a sleepover in my bed every night…haha.

You can find Fox’s 16 weeks pregnancy update HERE!