18 and 19 weeks...

I have gotten a little behind in my posts, due to some traveling and trying to get caught up on things around the house. So here is last weeks and this weeks post in one! Last Thursday was my 18 week mark. The baby is about the size of a sweet Potato. I have been having a lot of acid reflux and indigestion lately. Which I hate...but I can manage it pretty well. If it gets worse though I may ask for something from the doctor, we'll see.
As for week 19 the baby is the size of a Mango. I have started to feel a lot more movement over the past week or two! That is my favorite part of being pregnant. I just think it is amazing that this little baby is growing stronger everyday and I can feel it move around...so cool! This week is dragging for me, probably because I am so anxious for my ultrasound next Tuesday. I can't wait to fin out if we are having a boy or girl. Up until last week I thought we were going to have another boy but now I feel it's a girl, Jason also thinks we are having a girl. I guess we will have to wait and see!!! But, honestly I will be happy with either! Babies are so precious!

Other happenings this weekend include more packing, house hunting, planning Jason's birthday party, cleaning my house for a BBQ on Monday, Bo's friends birthday party, grocery shopping, helping friends move, farmers market, Greek festival, Shakespeare festival, Church and shopping. WOW we have a lot going on =)

Friday is my shopping day, I will be going to Trader Joes, Target, Sams, the Commissary and babies r us! It's the only day I can do my shopping. Saturday we are going to the farmers market. I am excited to get some fresh fruits and veggies! I am going to be making fresh home made salsa and guacamole! Then we are going to stop by the Greek festival, come home and give the boys a nap, I am then going to help my friend Laura clean her house, then go to a birthday party, and then we are going to relax in Forest park while enjoying the Shakespeare in the park!
Sunday we have Church and then a big BBQ to go to all afternoon.
Monday I will be straightening up the house and getting ready for our small group BBQ!

Anyways, that's is what I have going on this weekend! Do you have any big plans for Memorial day?

17 weeks

Sorry I didn't post on my official 17 week day, we were headed up to Minneapolis for a wedding that day so technically I am closer to 18 weeks. The baby is the size of an onion, although I feel bigger...LOL... Weight gain is still under control, which I am extremely happy about! I even had a couple people tell me that I look like I have lost weight even though I am almost 18 weeks pregnant! YAY!
I feel great! I finally look like I have a pregnant belly and not just a fat belly. I am carrying very high which I think makes me look bigger than I really am but whatever. I do have a little trouble sleeping at night, not to bad but when I have to switch from side to side I wake up because it is like an 8 point turn...LOL But otherwise I am sleeping well. I am eating well I have my appetite back completely except for not being able to eat or drink a few things, but at least I am not vomiting anymore!
I have my 20 week ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday June 1st! Exactly 2 weeks from today!!! I am so excited to find out if we are having a boy or girl. I really want a girl but I think it will be a boy. Jason thinks it will be a girl.....so we are taking bets!

This past weekend we were in Minneapolis, a high school buddy of Jason's got married and Jason was one of the Groomsmen. The boys and I were not going to go but we changed our minds last minute! We surprised Grandma and grandpa! We let the boys wake them up at midnight when we got in! It was fun!
The wedding went well and was a lot of fun seeing catching up with friends! Everyone was able to enjoy the open bar since I was the built in designated driver!
On Sunday we went to Canterbury park and had a great time! Bo got to ride a pony...Joel did not enjoy it however. It was such a beautiful day and it was so nice to just relax and hang out with family and friends!

This week I am unpacking and straightening things up as well as plan and pack for our camping trip this weekend. So I will be pretty busy, but we are looking forward to camping with the boys and our friends Dan and Lizzie!

Well that about does it for this past week! Oh Ya, I cute my hair! I love it so here is my first pregnancy photos!!!

16 weeks and organization

Well tomorrow marks the 16th week for me. I am feeling great! Nothing weird has been happening so that makes me happy. The baby is the size of a large avocado, 4.5 inches long and still only about 4 oz. Really the next big thing is to find out if we are having a boy or girl, then we need to start thinking of names. Any Suggestions? We do keep the name we decide a secret until the baby is born but I would love to hear your suggestions! Give me both boy and girl names since we don't know what we are having yet! I am excited to see what you guys come up with....Now I am talking serious names. Jason always has a tendency to throw out names like Latonya or weird combination names not that there is anything wrong with names like that but I wouldn't name my kids that. It is hard sometimes to tell if Jason is being serious or joking when it comes to names.

Anyways, I feel like I have been drowning again lately in "stuff" that needs to be put away, picked up, or cleaned. I Know I have written about this before and here I go again. This is the thing that I struggle with the most when it comes to keeping an organized house....the fact that I really don't know how to organize my whole house. I do fine with little parts of the house but overall I suck at it. I also am very organized when it comes to planning a vacation or a party but why I can't organize my house I have no idea. I have tried so many different things, all of which have failed miserably except one and that was the way I organized toys.
I know for a fact there are a couple of things that will help with the overall organization of the house I just need to find a good routine to stay on top of it. Some of which include:
Doing the dishes right after dinner
Doing a load of laundry every day
Bringing the "need to go upstairs" pile sitting at the bottom of the steps, upstairs every night
Putting the load of laundry that is folded away once I am done folding it

Those 4 things alone would help a lot. But yet I can't seem to stay on top of it. Simple tasks and I can't stay on top of it...What is wrong with me. I know I get easily side tracked...hehe and that is half my problem, whether it be a phone call, shopping, meeting with friends, finding some project that I started last month and decide to finish, playing with the boys, being so tired that I don't care or just being on the computer. All have become excuses for not getting something done at one point or another.

So again I am going to attempt to try and stay on top of those 4 things. I want to do it for a good week so that I get used to the routine and then it will just be second nature. I want to accomplish those 4 things before I start to make a set schedule for things like, mopping the floors and cleaning the bathrooms. One thing at a time right? One way I am going to try and do this is every night before Jason or I go to bed we will take 5-10 minutes and just pick up the random things that get left out and put them away. The dishes will get done right after dinner. Every night, No exceptions. After I get the boys there breakfast and before I sit down with my coffee and check my email I will put in a load of laundry and then change it out before I take my shower. Then once the load of laundry is done drying I will take it upstairs, fold it and put it away right then and there. With me doing this I think it will cut down on the "to go upstairs" pile so then at the end of the day when Jason and I go to bed we each can take the few things and put them away upstairs.
Thats my plan and I am stickin to it! Let's hope that I can force myself to do these few simple things without getting side tracked. I can always do most of the things that side tracked me when the boys take a nap or go to bed. I will let you know how I am doing come this weekend. Feel free to ask me as well. Accountability! =)

UltraSound findings...

Today I had my 15 week doctors appointment. The baby is doing well and it's heartbeat is 153! I was able to discuss with my Doctor the finding from the renal ultrasounds that I had done earlier this week. Good News....Everything came back normal, no fluids, stones or masses! YAY! I am so thanksful. She said that the back pain that I continuously have is probably pregnancy related. I guess it really is true that Every pregnancy is different! She said that she wants me to go to physical therapy once a week to have my back stretched out to keep the pain down to a minimum, but I told her it would be really hard for me to do that because that would require Jason to take time off each week so he could watch the boys for me to go. So then she said that I should go buy a pregnancy yoga video that I could do at home 3-4 times a week! Score, I will do that! So now the search begins for a video that has both the streching and fitness yoga on one dvd. Figure I can kill two birds with one stone.

Couple other things, I am very happy that I am able to start eating real food again! She did say that I probably did have a gallbladder attack that weekend I went to the ER, but things look back to normal. She did say to take it easy on fatty, greasy foods, but I can start eating dairy again! YAY, I can handle the no greasy food but I am missing my dairy!
I am also very proud of myself when it comes to weight, I have only gained about 3/4 of a pound! But I still have about 3 more pounds to gain before I am back at my pre-pregnancy weight, so that makes me very happy! I am hoping that with continued diet monitering and moderation and now that I am going to be doing yoga and yoga fitness 3-4 times a week that I can maintian a low weight gain!

My next appointment will be to find out the sex of the baby!!! I am so excited!!! But I sitll have like 3-4 weeks!

15 Weeks

This week the baby is the size of a Naval Orange! Other than the back pain that I have constantly I have been feeling good. I was finally able to get a hold of radiology to schedule my ultrasound appoinments, the Kidney and gallbladder were yesterday and then an OB one was today. Yesterday the tech didn't say much other than the results will be sent to my doctor. I am really hoping there is nothing major wrong because if there is my doctor said I may have to do surgery. So fingers crossed if there is something wrong it can be fixed with medicine/diet change etc...

My ultrasound today was uneventful other than getting to take home a picture of the little pumpkin! I was really hoping that they may be able to tell me if it's a boy or girl...but the Tech said she couldn't get a good look of that area. Things were still a little to small.

I have my next actual Doctors visit on Friday. So I should know more about the results of the ultrasounds then. We will also be talking about the diet that I have been on since my ER visit. I am hoping that I can start slowley introducing things back into my diet, like Milk and cheese! It all just depends on what the ultrasound findings are.

Tomorrow I have a Phonix Spouse luncheon to go to, grocery shopping to get done, baking to do for the Pampered Chef Quarters Auction, and prep work to do for the quarters auction tomorrow night! So I have a busy day. I am just happy that I have been feeling better overall and a lot less tired during the day. I still get really tired come 7 or 8 in the evening but for the most part I can get stuff done during the day!

Anyways, I will let you all know how things go on Friday!

Feeling better

Since this past weekends episode, I am feeling much better! My stomach is not in knots and whatever was "eating it" is now gone. My back still hurts and is pretty sore, but that's what the medicine if for right? My diet has changed drastically, I still don't know how I am going to do this. but I must say that since I have cut out dairy, grease, fat, and spicy foods I have not had any stomach pains, which is a huge relief.
I am going to have to sit down and really plan out my meals. I have always done meal planning to some extent, but now I am really going to have to crack the whip. It is a little overwhelming but at least I feel better. If any of you have an recipes that will be good for the while family that are dairy free, low in fat, and aren't spicy or cream based I would love for you to share them with me!
I need to call my doctor today and schedule a follow up appointment and then I have the ultra-sounds this week. So I will know more after I talk to my Doc.
Today I would like to start packing my craft room. I realized we have just over 3 months left here at this Base. I want to be prepared for when it comes time to move. I am going to be huge and prego come August and I just don't want to wait till the last minute to pack everything and then completely stressed out and over exhausted. So I decided to start with things that I can "live without" for a couple months. Besides, I haven't been scrapbooking because I need to order and print pictures and get them organized, I haven't printed any since Joel was born, so maybe I can work on that and then work on my scrapbooks when we get all moved in this fall.
I also need to work on laundry today. I am just going to get it washed and dried and then work on folding it tonight.
That's all for now, I will keep you all posted!

13 weeks

Today marks 13 weeks! Overall I am feeling a ton better, aside from being tired, which probably won't go away. LOL. (TMI) I got the results from the UTI lab that was done and everything came back normal! YAY! My doctor wants to do another ultra-sound to see if there is anything that could be causing the cramping that I have been having. At my last doctors appointment she had to use ultra-sound to find the baby's heart beat and everything was looking fine then, so she expects things will be fine now. If everything is A-OK then she wants to do and ultra-sound of my kidneys and make sure I don't have a kidney stone. I have never had one but that just sound horrible. Another possibility is constipation, which I have had a lot of. UGH....She did prescribe me some collace to see if that helps, we'll see. Hopefully that's what is causing the cramping. She just wants to be on the safe side and do the other ultra-sounds. I am not going to complain, cuz that means I get to see baby!

Anyways, I am still down almost 6 pounds. I have really been watching my diet and trying to be good. Now that doesn't mean I don't indulge in some of my craving, because I totally do. If I do then I just know, that if I have taco bell for lunch then we are having salads for dinner, or grilled chicken and broccoli ect... I am very happy with my diet, I feel like I am getting the right amount of vitamins and nutrients, while still maintaining my weight!

Well that about does is it for this post. I will be busy with the yard sale all weekend and then we are hanging out with some friends on Saturday night, who are moving next week. So it will be a busy weekend! Ta ta for now!

12 Weeks!

So I will officially be 12 weeks and into my second trimester tomorrow! Wahoo! I am slowly but surely starting to feel better, but I am still tired a lot. I had my first doctors appointment on Tuesday and I have had a couple of ahha and Duh moments to fasten your seat belts this may be a long post....=)

I know last week I posted on having a lot of ear pain and pressure and headaches and eye pain ect...Well last week we went to Subway for dinner and as we were sitting there I had a major DUH moment. I asked Jason and realized that all the pain that I was having with my head is probably due to the stupid root canal that I need to have done. I mean come on I have an exposed nerve in my mouth....Duh... I had a filling fall out last November and due to the holiday schedule, traveling and a bunch of other stuff I was not able to get into the dentist until mid January. I told them that a filling fell out and I needed it fixed. They wanted me to come in for a standard cleaning and then go from there. So I did and thats when the doc said it would be easier to do a root canal and crown to keep it from happening again in the future. So I then scheduled an appointment for February, but in the process I found out I was pregnant and they had to wait until I could get the approval from my doc in order to do it....Good news My doctor says I can have it done! Thank the Lord! Hopefully that will take care of all the pain and pressure. So until I can get in, more like come up with the $600, floss is my new best friend, I carry it with me everywhere!

I had my first doctors appointment on Tuesday! It was really long...I was there for almost 3 hours. I am very happy to report that I am down almost 6 pounds! Which I am sooo stoked about. I am really trying hard to manage my food portions and what I eat in general. Like I have said before I drink a LOT of water and tea, so that is really helping with my craving/binge control. I am really hoping to gain no more than 10 pounds the whole pregnancy. The doctor I saw I really liked, she was down to earth, really nice, listened to what I had to say and overall encouraging! So I am for sure staying with her until we move. (TMI Alert) As with a first appointment they did a pap, full exam and a breast exam. Ugh. Glad that is over. I also talked to the doc about the abdominal pains that I have been having and she was concerned that I may have a UTI (urinary tract infection) So I had to take a test. It came back with a little blood in my urine so they sent it off to the lab to be cultured. I should here back tomorrow with the results. So I will keep you posted on that. Overall the appointment went well. Baby's heartbeat is strong and looking good! I have another appointment in 4 weeks.
I have an ultrasound photo that I will upload tomorrow.

I am very much a go, go, go person. I always seem to be doing something. That is not always a good thing. I think I have posted about this problem before? I always seem to feel ok in the morning and early afternoon, but once 2:00 or 3:00 roll around I am beat. I physically can't get things done unless I take a nap, so I have been indulging in a nap almost everyday. Then I get an energy boost around dinner time (unless I didn't get a nap) and then around 7:00 I am done. My problem, for sure, right now is time management. I need to learn to work around what my body is telling me and adjust to this new schedule. How long this schedule will last I don't know. I would hope not the whole pregnancy but ya just never know. I feel really overwhelmed right now with my list of things to do and get done. I am getting ready for a yard sale next weekend and I have piles of stuff all over my house that are for the yard sale but I don't know where to put everything. My pile of yard sale stuff in the garage is Gigantic and I can't add more to it. So i guess there are some positives...I am getting rid of stuff, We are downsizing for our move in August, hopefully this means my house will be easier to maintain! The down side is a very cluttered looking house for the next week and a half. I figured it will all be worth it in the end. SO FYI, if you stop by my house the next week and half it will probably look like a tornado came through....=) I have a few ideas that I have gotten from a few different friends that i am going to work on putting into motion this week to help "maintain" a clean house...well at least LOOK clean. Like I am going to put toilet bowl cleaner behind each toilet, so that when I notice it is looking dingy I can take the 2 minutes and swish it around and just keep it clean. I LOVE my Swiffer mop! My floors are cleaner in general all the time! plus it is fun to use! I have already put into motion the whole toy system, which I think I have already posted about. It is going well! I am not drowning in toys all the time! I am designating a drawer in this buffet thing we have by our front door for things that need to go upstairs, if it doesn't fit in the drawer it gets taken up right away. My hope is that between Jason and I we can empty it at the end of the day, but more than likely it will probably be once or twice a week. We'll see. But I am tired of things getting piled up that need to go upstairs, cuz they always seem to sit there for 1-10 days. depends on what it is.
I definitely feel like there are times I always fail in keeping up with the house. In some cases I have realized that the bathrooms are still going to be there tomorrow, cuz I don't want to miss out on things with the boys. It's a balancing act for sure, but I guess I am struggling right now though, esp...when I have a limited window of time to get things done right now. If I try to do to much, I break down emotionally, usually because I am so exhausted. I honestly think that once I can get all this "extra" stuff out of my house for the yard sale that it will help a lot with everything. I just need to make it through this next week. Nothing is coming back into my house after the yard sale, whatever doesn't sell will ALL be donated. Less stuff=less stuff to put away and clean!

Well those are my thoughts for this week. I hope that made sense...Sorry again for the long post I tend to ramble. =)

Almost 10 weeks...

I know it hasn't been a week since I posted but I had a few things I wanted to share.

With this pregnancy I have not been able to drink any sort of pop or anything sweet. The taste is really weird and just the thought of eating or drinking these things just makes me want to hurl. Now I am not saying this is a bad thing. It will probably help me out a TON with my goal to not gain to much weight. All that to say I have been drinking a lot of tea, water, and the occasional coffee. Well yesterday I think I drank mostly tea, a grape slushie, and like 2 glasses of water. Last night however, I felt like total crap, I couldn't sleep, my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest, my fingers and face and feet were all tingling and I felt like it wouldn't go away. As I lay in bed at 1:30 in the morning I figured that all this was caused by my lack of water the previous day. Normally it would not have affected me but I seriously think that part of the reason I feel crappy is not enough water. This morning after I peed I could for SURE tell I was completely dehydrated. Today I found out that I need to double my water intake then that of the normal amount of 64 oz. HOLY MOLY that is a lot of water.....but again it will make me less hungry and less likely to munch in the afternoon. So I guess it's a win win situation here!

Overall I have felt really good the past couple of days. I was able to clean my bathroom today!!! YAY I don't even want to tell you how bad it was. I also got the 2 baskets of the boy's clothes put away, I pulled out all their summer clothes and added them to their closets. I was able to go through the time consuming things like make up and jewelry. I tossed old stuff and anything that was still mostly full or in good condition I added to the garage sale pile. It took me awhile to go through those things because I always seem to have a plethera of both make-up, bath products and jewelry. But I feel so much better having gone through them. It's all about purging!!!!

I have noticed that I can't really lift anything heavy, not because I lack the strength to lift it but because I get weird pains on my upper belly and they kind of shoot down the side of my abdomen to make sort of a C shape. So I figure I will just ask Jason to help me move and lift anything heavier than a laundry basket and not try to be Super Woman and end up hurting myself.

Towards the end of this week I can finally call and schedule my first doctors appointment! Hopefully I can talk to her about my sinus issues if they haven't cleared up on their own by then. I also want to make sure that the stomach pains I have are nothing more serious. I doubt it but I just want to make sure.

Anyways, I think that is it for now. I will officially be 10 weeks on Thursday! Tune in next week for an update.

Pregnancy blogging...

Ok I am going to attempt to blog about this pregnancy. With Bo and Joel I tried to keep a calendar and I would forget to write things down adn then I would end up guessing. So I figured that since I am on the computer a lot that this may be an easier way to keep track of things. Be advised I am not afraid to share things so I will use (TMI Alerts) if i think something may To Much Information for some of you! So here we go!

TMI-First Towards the middle of February I realized that I was five days late from when I should have started my period. I didn't think to much of it because I had been irregular since having Joel. I guess my body had trouble getting readjusted to a normal schedule. Then I noticed I was feeling really tired so I went and bought a pregnancy test. I got home and I expected it to be negative because they all have been in the past. As I am waiting I am holding my breath cuz I start seeing two lines.....I was like NO WAY.....REALLY. I was totally shocked and excited! I was so excited I couldn't calm down. It felt like it was my first pregnancy. I immediately started planning on how I was going to tell Jason, I had about an hour before he was due home from work. I thought about calling him at work, about sending him a hint email, about buying a cute little outfit....but none of them seemed right. So when he got home he dropped his stuff off in the living room where I was sitting and then went into the kitchen to get a drink. I then gave the test to Bo and told him to go give it to daddy. There was silence from the kitchen and a second later Jason walks back into the living room with a smile on his face and says "What is this?" Needless to say he was speechless and excited. We were both sitting there and were like....this is crazy....is it for real! I took a second test just to be sure and it came back positive as well!
We then discussed when we should tell people. Bo's birthday party was a little over two weeks away and my parents and Jason's parents were going to be there so we thought that would be perfect. I want you guys to know that keeping this a secret for two weeks was SOOOOO hard for me. Jason's dad Mike was here visiting and I was feeling sick while he was here and I was trying to hide it...I don't think I did a very good job. LOL

Well on Thursday March 4th, I had a dating ultrasound scheduled because I didn't know how far along I was. It was also the day that both sets of parents were arriving. So I totally made up a "Fake" doctors appointment to get my sinuses checked out so that no one would suspect anything. After talking with Jason we decided that we would tell our parents that night and the rest of the world on Saturday. I get home and and everyone asks how my appointment went and I said "The Doctor says I am Due October 21st" They all stop and were like....uh What.....What did you say. Then I reveal the ultrasound picture!

My dad was on his computer and right away facebooks it before I can tell him to wait. So then I feel like I need to post something so that people find out from me! So the whole idea of telling people on Saturday went out the window. Oh well!

So now I am 9 weeks and the past two weeks have been rough for me. I have been really nauseous, tired and just completely drained. I seriously layed on the couch for like 5 days straight and did nothing other than the basic feeding and changing the boys. and when I say nothing I mean NOTHING...Jason really picked up a lot of the slack by doing the dishes and taking out the garbage and feeding the boys dinner so that I could sleep.

Yesterday and today I have been feeling a lot better!! Wahoo. I took all our Laundry to the Laundromat so that I could get it all caught up, I have been working on getting things ready for a garage sale, and just trying to catch up on some basic things that need to be cleaned.

I will eventually start posting prego pictures but for now I will spare you cuz it just looks like I am getting Fatter than I already am... Although I am down 2 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight! My belly is starting to pop slightly and I just switched to maternity pants even though I could still button my regular jeans they were uncomfortable when I would sit down.

Anyways, sorry for the long post. In the future they won't be so long but I felt like I had to tell the whole finding out story! I think I want to try posting once a week, so be on the look out if you want to follow my journey!