Week 31- finally!

Week 31

Week 28/29?? 

Week 31

Due Date: Early February (trying not to set myself up for disaapointment by honing in on one day)
How far along: 31 weeks, 1 day
Total Weight Gain: 25 lbs, that's 10 lbs in 6 weeks folks! And I feel every ounce.  There is no where for this weight to go on my petite frame (as you can tell from the picture above)
Stretch marks: false alarm on that last stretch mark! Kenny was somehow disappointed that I didn't have a stretch mark, saying that my pregnancy has almost been too easy. How times have changed in the past couple weeks.
Sleep: now that I have figured out that I need to position pillows in such a way that they support my belly- great!
Best moment this week: the past couple weeks have been glorious.  We went to a birthing class, Seaside, OR for a couple days, then lots of family, Thanksgiving and baby showers in Redding.  
Miss anything? I'm entering the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy, I miss my old body.  
Movement: any time I'm not standing, he moves all over the place.  However the little brat stops moving the second I call anyone over to feel his tumbling!
Food cravings: I want rich foods that no matter what end up making me sick, total bummer.
Anything causing queasiness: everything I eat. I have been getting some crazy acid reflux which means I've been taking Tums each night before I go to bed so that I'm not up all night.  Trying to look at it as getting that extra calcium that this child is leaching from me. 
Pains: My left hip as a lot of soreness in it, but nothing that nightly massages doesn't take care of :)
Started showing: ha!
Gender: Little Eli Bradley!
Looking forward to: everything. We are still crazy busy trying to make sure we have all these finances in order to give me the 6 weeks of maternity leave we are aiming for, need to decorate and shop for Christmas, trying to connect with Dutch to see where cookies are headed in the next year, finish decorating the house, Eli's room is a disaster and I am looking forward to every bit of it.  I lay in bed on these cold wintry mornings and see all the animals all snuggled up and can't wait till he is here to snuggle with al of us and welcome his papa home from work.  

On another note, we had the most amazing baby showers with all of our Redding family and can not even begin to express how grateful and showered with love we feel.  It was so amazing how all of you came together to welcome this little guy into our lives and we can't wait to bring him out there to meet all of you!

Catching Up: Week 25

In my mind, I will be some great and consistent blogger, in reality, nothing about me has ever been consistent.  Anyway, I promise a whole catch up on our lives out here in Idaho in the coming days (possible now that I am only at the restaurant 4 days a week!!) for now though, lets just catch up on brewing the baby.

Week 24, Day 4

Week 25, Day 4

Due Date: According to the sonogram February 4th
How far along: 25 weeks, 5 days
Total Weight Gain: 15 lbs!! whoa, I've surpassed my sad Idaho winter weight gain a couple pounds ago, meaning largest I've ever been.  Meaning, I feel huge and I will most likley double this weight gain by the end of the pregnancy, meaning, I will be enormous.
Stretch marks: ...possibly, I found a red mark.  I'm desperately hoping that I may have scratched my belly against something and that I am not developing stretch marks this early on.
Sleep: aside from kicking Kenny all night long; I sleep well some nights, other nights, not so much.
Best moment this week: getting some clothes that fit! I've been down to rotating about 5 outfits and finally got the maternity clothes I ordered a couple weeks ago.  Worst moment? Only a couple of the clothes fit, because apparently petite women don't get pregnant.  Another great moment? Booking our vacation to Seaside and our birthing class and our trip to Redding all at the end of November. So much family time, baby time, and couple time I can hardly wait.
Miss anything? Being little.  It sounds so vain and lame and I am so thankful for this amazing gift I'm carrying, but I've been about the same size since I was 13. Its difficult to learn to adapt how I put on shoes :). And tequila, because I'm classy that way. I just smell shots of it at the restaurant.
Movement: this little guy moves ALL THE TIME!  At our last appointment our midwife could hardly get his heartbeat because he moved around so much and kept kicking the monitor off.  He is so strong and active that we can see his creepy alien movements under my skin.
Food cravings: I've never liked tomato juice or bloody marys, however while serving one to a table a couple weeks ago, I HAD to have one.  My amazing bartenders made me a delicious virgin one and I'm in love! Also the other night Kenny wanted chocolate cake and then proceeded to only have one slice- that cake was almost gone within 4 days.
Anything causing queasiness: same general lactose inspired food issues, same as before.
Started showing: yes, very much yes.
Gender: baby boy-shocked us like crazy.  Can't wait to snuggle my little guy.
Looking forward to: finishing our house! My amazing parents came and put in new flooring and it is beautiful and wonderful and causing me to upgrade the rest of my house.
Pains: just general belly soreness still, no fun being stretched from the inside.

I promise more to come soon, but for now, I've got a dinner to cook and cookies to bake.

Coin Flip

     As many of you know, Kenny and I differ quite a bit. A couple of things brought up with pregnancy have been finding out the sex of the baby and cloth diapers. I tend to gravitate toward the granola side of things and have had my heart set on cloth diapers since I attended an environmental event at Chico. The majority of people think I'm crazy for a multitude of reasons; but I say something that is better for baby, less expensive and helps to potty train sounds brilliant- even without the loading up the landfill bit.  Anyway because of all the differences between the two of us, we have become wonderful at compromise. I get my way about 93% percent of the time, perfect statistics in my mind. However with some things he won't budge and those mentioned above were two of them. So we made a deal, I won't even mess around with a coin flip if he would agree to cloth diapers- deal has been made and tomorrow is the big day. So now is the time for everyone else to participate. Kenny and I both have no inclination as to what we are having. I always thought at least one of us would feel one way or the other, but so far total split. I'll lay out the facts (old wives tales) and let everyone make their best guess.

Cravings: more chips and crackers (however if milk and cookies and ice cream didn't make me sick, I feel like this would be different) = boy
Skin issues: better better better and then crappy = split, girls are supposed to "steal your beauty"
Carrying: I think it's low, but it's a small bump = boy
String test: back and forth = girl
Heart rate: above 140 bpm = girl
Mayan gender predictor/Chinese calendar = boy
Morning sickness: hardly any = boy

    Truth be told, I feel more prepared for a girl. You see, Kenny and I have had it predicted for us that we were going to end up with all girls ever since we were about 18. I've only thought we will have girls, now that it's actually time to have a baby, I'm terrified that I'm not at all prepared to parent a boy. Luckily I have about million little brothers that I loved helping to parent (boss around) so I'm sure I'll be able to glean some knowledge from my childhood. I would love to hear what everyone else thinks Cletus the fetus is going to be. Also if anyone has some tips and advice for cloth diapers, please share the wealth!

                                                              20 weeks, 4 days 

Week 19

                                                       19 weeks, 2 days please excuse the exhaustion, this is 2:30 in the morning after coming home from working and having 2! wedding parties come in at closing


Due Date? February 6th How far along? 19 weeks, 4 days
Total weight gain: 6 lbs
Maternity Clothes?  About to go shopping for more clothes tomorrow, hoping to steer clear of maternity clothes in general, but it's time, the majority if my clothing is decently form fitting.

Stretch marks? nope
Sleep? When I sleep, it's either a deep, almost dead sleep or a constant swirl of dreams that leave me feeling like I didn't get a bit of rest. Most recent dream? Ryan Goslig moved into an airstream down the street and had just broken up Eva Mendes, so I invited him to spend Christmas with us and all our friends, he enjoyed our family so much that he now spends every Christmas with us and is an uncle to our kids- weird stuff people.
Best moment this week? Feeling the baby move! If I'm following the advice of old wives tales, the baby should be here February 3 (5 months from the first day you feel a real movement). It feels like the baby is telling me some kind of special message in morse code.
Miss anything? My regular "normal" because I'm still not showing a whole ton, it's easy to forget that I'm pregnant and therefore not eat enough or get enough rest because I'm just not used to someone else calling the shots.

Movement: feels like this kid is doing somersaults, mainly at night.
Food cravings: no real food cravings still, I don't really feel like eating anything, so I just eat whatever is placed in front of me. Still trying to train my body to drink it because if I want anything, it is milk and cookies, this should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me!
Anything causing queasiness? Haven't for awhile, but then yesterday I was too busy and didn't eat enough, meaning I woke up feeling awful and needing food RIGHT THIS SECOND!
Started showing? My belly is still on the small side unless I've been drinking milk or eating cheese and am showing lactose bloat plus a baby bump, really comfortable, flattering stuff I'm sharing today.
Gender: Sonogram and coin flipping on the 25th!
Looking forward to: The sonogram! It is next Wednesday and because I'm measuring so small, I'm am desperate to see this little thing. To put everyone's minds at ease, I have spoken to my midwives at length about my size and they say I'm perfectly fine. The baby's heartbeat is a a strong 150 bpm and I in general have a petite frame. Even so, I want to see that the baby is actually the correct size.

Pains? I am generally sore around the bottom half of my belly, I've had some serious round ligament pain that felt like being stabbed, but massaging helps a lot. So if you come into the restuarant while we are busy and I'm massaging my uterus, now you know why :)

     This week has been crazy. Kenny and I are both working tons to get everything paid for and to get our house ready to put in the new flooring that I am so excited for, I can hardly wait. We are finally getting around to decorating our house and fixing up various things that have been destroyed over the course of five year and four animals. Plus we got to spend time with family. However it's always a little bittersweet for me, seeing family makes me so happy, yet also makes me want to live 3 hours away from all of our family instead of 9.  It was so nice having people over for dinner. I love getting to cook for other people

     I've also found time to throw a couple fits this week. Here's the thing, I have had basically the same body since I was twelve. I have a small muscular frame that has very little curve. Due to this body type, I tend to wear clothes that are cut very close to my body and tailored to fit it. So this 6 lbs sticking out of the front of me means the majority of my clothes are pulling already. So I threw a fit in the closet and my delightful husband said lets go shopping this week and I yelled "I don't want to go shopping" because that makes sense and will clearly solve the problem. Then I cried.  It's much more difficult seeing my body morph than I thought it would be.  I keep thinking that once I've grown beyond the beer belly and people know I'm pregnant not over-indugling, I'll embrace the change more.  While I would like to blame crazy, irrational, purely emotion based thinking on pregnancy, I have always been this way. Feel for my husband, this is not a 9 month bout with crazy as much as it is a lifelong sentence. 

      Lately I am filled with such a horrendous amount of gratitude, joy and excitement about what is going on in Kenny and I's life that I can hardly contain my love for this world. Then the next second I'm crying because I'm tired or didn't cross something off of my to do list or some irrational fear pops into my head, then I'm crying :).  Kenny is trying to get me to live in the moment which would solve a lot of issues that I tend to make up by sitting in my own head space for too long.  If anyone has any tips on how to do this magical zen like thing, I'm all ears.  Thanks for taking this journey with me! 

And baby makes three!

With so many of our friends and family far from us, I am resurrecting the blog to let everyone be present for this HUGE adventure Kenny and I are embarking on! I had planned on being super organized and keeping a photo diary in the same outfit throughout the whole pregnancy.  However I'm not nearly organized or together enough to do anything like that; not to mention that the thought of doing anything beyond sleeping the first 12 weeks was laughable.  I've stolen this little information set up from another blog, Little baby garvin;  and good golly her little baby girl is freaking adorable. Anyway, lets get started:

Due date: February 6, 2014
"Plan for birth": water birth at Treasure Valley Midwives

                                                                   12 Weeks

                                                                 17 Weeks, 1 Day


How far along? 17 weeks, 5 days
Total weight gain: 5 lbs
Maternity Clothes? Lucky for me, dresses are my most constant item of clothing, easy to slide over the belly.  Some jeans require the rubberband trick, but some still button right up.  The only thing I've had to buy is a couple t-shirts in medium and some maternity leggings.
Stretch marks? nope
Sleep? Only one early morning trip to the bathroom each night.
Best moment this week? Paid off the car! Meaning we can now get started on getting Kenny a car that gets better gas mileage then 10 miles to the gallon.
Miss anything? Sushi, riding the motorcycle, abs :).
Movement: I think I'm feeling something, little tight, deep muscle squeezes.
Food cravings: Cheerios and ice cold milk.  Unfortunately after going vegan for a couple months my body established itself as somewhat lactose intolerant.
Anything causing queasiness? only when I eat foods that I know my body hasn't liked from before I was pregnant and if I don't eat right when I wake up.  My sensitive stomach has a heightened level of sensitivity.
Started showing? I think so, but most of the time when I tell people I'm four months along, they react with telling me that I seem way too small.  I'm ready for a real belly!
Gender: Kenny and I will be flipping a coin in three weeks to decide if we will be finding out the gender or not.
Looking forward to: Checking things off of our to do list! Worrying is like a hobby for me and having a to do list makes me feel super in control, clearly I'm going to have to work on this issue.