19 week survey and belly shot!

How Far Along: 19 weeks

(Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.)

Size of baby: A MANGO! (6 inches long, 8.5 ounces)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 1 pound this week. So total I am up 9 pounds.

Gender: Will find out in a little over a week!  So excited to be able to call the baby "him" or "her" instead of "it"!

Movement: Lots and loving it!  I just think it's the coolest thing to feel the baby moving around in there!

What I miss: Nothing really :)

Sleep: Sleeping great, all the way through the night most nights!

Symptoms: Got sick once this week but it was probably just something that I ate.  Acid reflux is increasing every night too.  Also, my dreams are getting WEIRD and I remember every single one of them.  I think one of the funniest things that happened this week was when I had a dream that Russell (2009 winner of So You Think You Can Dance) had a gun and was trying to shoot me in my stomach.  I woke Kyle up because it was so scary and he responded with "just tell him to take away the fruits and vegetables and you'll be fine". HAHAHA sounds like Kyle was having some crazy dreams himself :)

Cravings: Breakfast sausage has just tasted amazing to me lately (I never used to be able to eat even one sausage link with my IBS).  Sherbet for dessert tastes really good too :)

Best Moment this week: Kyle feeling the baby!  Friday night we were laying in bed and the baby was moving up a storm.  The second Kyle put his hand on my belly "G-baby" kicked right on his hand.  SO COOL and a really special moment for Kyle and I to experience together.

What we are looking forward to: Can't wait for October 22nd to get here so we can find out if it's a boy or girl!  I'm also registering with my sister October 23rd and am so looking forward to that!

And here is the belly for this week.  It was dark and the shadow behind me is horrible, but it's better than nothing. I pulled the dress tight so we can see the full shape! 

Okay it's your last week to vote on the gender!  We've added a poll for y'all to take (on our sidebar to the right)!  We are so interested to hear what y'all think we're having!  POLL AWAY!

The most spoiled dog on the planet

I almost didn't publish this post because it just shows how spoiled our dog is.  Ever since he was neutered, he has loved sleeping on the bed with us.  As I progressively get more pregnant though, the pillows are increasing and poor Kyle is truly getting kicked off the bed.  I mean look at how much of the bed Tyson takes up!

On a side note, I've been laying on our air mattress downstairs to watch tv.  I can get in a comfortable position and it's much better than our couch.  WELL we had the bright idea of carrying it upstairs for Tyson to lay on at night, instead of our bed.  IT IS AMAZING.  We give him a blanket and pillows and he sleeps there all night long!

And a closer look:

We just might be investing in a single twin air mattress soon for Tyson to permanently sleep on, that can be stored underneath our bed!  I also have to show how Tyson travels now.  He has officially taken over my old body pillow--- oh my gosh he is so spoiled. 

SUCH exciting news!!!

I was BLOWN AWAY on Friday when my best friend Lauren called me and told me SHE WAS PREGNANT!!!!  She caught me completely off guard as every time I asked her about it she would say "oh maybe in 2 years or so".  Anyways, on Friday she gave me all the details and she is due May 7th.  I seriously couldn't be more excited about it. 

Doesn't a girl always dream to have her best friends pregnant with her at the same time?  My two best friends (both who I've known since I was 5 years old) and I are all due a month apart!  I'm due in March, Sara's due in April, and Lauren is due in May!  God is so good!  

We love you Lauren and Matt and we are SO happy for you both!!  
Praying for that little baby already!

The first step!

To get ready for the baby, we are going to need to rearrange some rooms in our house!  Our office will now become the guest bedroom and the guest bedroom will now become the nursery! The first step in making this happen was needing to sell our office desk, as it's huge and requires an entire room to itself!  

My dad and Kyle built this one from scratch based off of one that I found from Pottery Barn, and I just love it.  It was perfect for scrapbooking, sewing or doing any kind of craft on.

You can see how I used it for our Christmas cards last year:

I quickly came to terms with the fact that we had no room for the table anymore, and wrote an email to my girlfriends down here seeing if any of them wanted it.  Last night our neighbor, Serina, came over and bought it as she's completely a craft person too!  I am so comforted knowing that it's going to be in good hands, and am excited about this being the first step to getting our house ready for the baby!

Hope you all have wonderful weekends!

Meet Finn!

Chris and Kathleen just picked up their new Vizsla puppy last week, who they named Finn (cutest name ever).  Oh man I just love puppies: their breath, their nibbles, their lanky runs and pouncing on everything, but most importantly cuddle time!  

Sunday night we brought over dinner and visited with K&C while playing with Finn!  Thanks for letting us come over, he's such a cutie!

18 weeks!

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: A SWEET POTATO! 5.6 inches, 6.7 ounces
(Your fetus has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to you), passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, baby's finally big enough that you'll be able to feel those movements soon.)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 2 more pounds this week.  So now I'm officially up 8.

Gender: Will find out in 2 weeks!  October 22nd will be the day!

Movement: YES and just loving this!  Now that I finally know the "flick" feeling, I can recognize it no problem, and it sure does happen a lot.  I can't wait till Kyle can feel him/her too!

What I miss: Nothing, loving every minute!

Sleep: Sleeping all the way through the night no problem!

Symptoms: If I walk too fast during exercising, I feel a tightening in my lower abdomen.  Just listening to my body and not pushing myself too hard.

Cravings: Cheddar cheese slices still sound so good any time of the day.  The hot dogs that we cooked over the campfire last weekend tasted AMAZING too.

Best Moment this week: Feeling the baby kick all the time and spending last weekend camping with Kyle.

What we are looking forward to: Finding out the sex in 2 weeks and getting to see our little munchkin on the ultrasound again!

In case you missed it last week, we added a poll for y'all to vote on the sex (on our sidebar to the right)!  We are so interested to hear what y'all think we're having!  POLL AWAY!

Camping at Bear Creek!

Saturday afternoon, Kyle and I headed up into the North Georgia Mountains, near Ellijay to do some camping!  We were so excited as the weather is finally perfect with lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s!  We drove up to Bear Creek Campground, which is pretty hard to find, so there was only a handful of people there.  You actually have to cross a river with your car to go into the parking area, which I thought was cool!  Instead of it being a campground it's more just a huge area of woods where you can camp wherever... FOR FREE!  We hiked in a half a mile and found the perfect spot, surrounded by the river on 2 sides and a hill on the other to make it more private.  It. Was. Awesome!

We got everything set up and threw the stick in the river for Tyson a ton.  By then it was around time for dinner, so Kyle started the fire and we had a great time sitting around it soaking in the warmth.  We had packed some mac & cheese and hot dogs for dinner and it was delicious.  For dessert we had marshmallows and even some freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches left over from our Wyoming Trip.

Around 9:00 we hung our food in a tree (there are bear signs everywhere up there), went inside the tent, played some cards then called it a night.  Kyle was so worried that I wouldn't sleep that well on our little camping pads, but I slept GREAT!  We ended up sleeping till 9:30 that next morning- talk about quiet!

We woke up to it being around 40 degrees-- BRR!  We quickly started the fire and huddled around it for a while.  For breakfast we had pop tarts that we warmed by the fire and some hot chocolate.  We talked for the next couple hours, with me by the fire and Kyle in his sleeping bag inside his hammock and then it was time for an early lunch!  I was SO EXCITED to use my families TONKA MAKER!  I have so many memories of using this to make all sorts of concoctions as a kid, and it cooked our grilled cheese perfectly!

We finally decided it was time to pack up and go for a hike.  It was so nice not to have a "check out" time.  Once we got everything back to the car we drove to some of the Bear Creek Trails that Kyle had been to with a couple mountain bikers.  They were perfect and we hiked a little over 2 miles we think.

It was a great way to spend our weekend.  Tyson is so tired from running and swimming, he barely even made it upstairs last night.  I felt "G-Baby" move so many times this weekend, which might just mean the little one is outdoorsy already!  We love hiking and camping with our little family and I hope it's always something we always make time to do!

Book Club: The Help!

Last Friday night was Book Club with the girls!  Stephanie hosted it and had made the most delicious meal, we all ate so much!  Around 9:00 we started talking about the book, The Help.  I've mentioned this book on the blog before, but it was so good.  (Kathryn Stockett wrote about a woman who has aspirations of being a writer; however her mother just wants her to settle down and get married. The main character, Miss Skeeter, begins to see the division and love between whites and blacks in Mississippi during the 1960's. She decides to write about what she sees in her own backyard, but this could prove dangerous considering the racial climate of the time. *Taken straight from Holly's blog!*) It's exciting that they are filming the movie in Mississippi as we speak!

Around 2:00 AM we finally called it a night-- haha can you believe I stayed up that late?  I loved catching up with these girls and am so thankful I met them all through Nweds.  Of course in our delirious state we took some pictures to document the night!

 

Had so much fun with all of you!

17 weeks -- 4 month belly shot!

I just finished my 4th month of pregnancy, how crazy is that!  On Wednesday I was officially 17 weeks, only a couple more till I am half way.  I can fully say that I LOVE being in the second trimester, I feel great and am really enjoying being pregnant!

Kyle and I headed for my monthly checkup this morning and everything is perfect.  I am so thankful that Kyle's boss has let him come to all my appointments so we can experience this all together.  We got to hear G-Baby's heartbeat, and this time it went up and was in the 150's!

So without further ado here is my 17 week survey:

How Far Along: 17 weeks

(Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.)

Size of baby: AN ONION! (5.1 inches long)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 2 more pounds this past week!  So total I have gained 6.

Maternity Clothes: YES and loving them!

Gender: Will find out in 3 weeks!  Our doctor changed our appointment so we can find out a little earlier, so October 22nd will be the day!

Movement: YES!!!  This was by far the most exciting thing that happened this week.  On Wednesday I was sitting at my desk at work and all of a sudden grabbed my stomach and said "Oh my gosh".  Lacey and Jen both screamed "is everything okay?!".  I couldn't even get out "the baby moved" before I started crying.  It was definitely more than a flutter, more like 2 distinct flicks in a row.  I felt another one last night when we were watching tv ... SO COOL and just such a miracle.  I can't wait till Kyle can feel him/her move too!

What I miss: Nothing, loving every minute!

Sleep: Sleeping great, all the way through the night again!  This past week though I have fallen asleep at 8:15 on the couch every night.  I just get so tired right after dinner, especially if I go on walks!

Symptoms: I think I gagged once this week just from moving too fast after I ate.  Sleepy at night but I'm going pretty hard during the day so I'm fine with that!

Cravings: Anything salty still, and BEEF!  I have hated protein almost this entire pregnancy so I'm glad I'm wanting meat again.  We've had chili, meatloaf, tacos and more this week!

Best Moment this week: Feeling the baby move!  I will never forget it!

What we are looking forward to: Camping this weekend now that the weather has cooled off!  We also can't wait for Oct 22nd to get here so we can find out if it's a boy or girl!

SO since we know the date we'll be finding out the sex I have added a poll for y'all to take (on our sidebar to the right)!  We are so interested to hear what y'all think we're having!  POLL AWAY!