An Update...

Hi Folks! It's been awhile, yes? I know we are so overdue for an update and bump pictures...well, I can provide one of those things today...an update! I promise to get my photographer (husband) to take some updated bump pictures so I can share them next week. There has been some major growth going on in the belly area!

So what have we been up to recently? It seems that we have had quite a few lazy days, as this pregnancy is still knocking me down with exhaustion. I don't know if it's all the pregnancy, or if my thyroid has something to do with it too. I was told that when pregnant we would likely be increasing my snythroid (thyroid medicine), which helps with energy levels among other things. Well, my last blood work apparently showed no reason to increase so we stayed at the same dosage...I am thinking we should have increased...but that could just be me being tired of being so tired, ha. So other than going to bed by 9pm almost every night and a couple lazy Sunday's we have been working more on the baby's nursery, painting more rooms in our home and enjoying time as a family of 3 with Louie.

Oh Louie...I could do a whole update on him alone complete with adorable pictures. I will save that for next week though as we go to the vet with him tomorrow for a heart worm recheck. At this point, we have been doing treatments for over a year. Please, please pray that our pup is heart worm free at last. I hate putting him through these treatments, which I would explain as chemotherapy for dogs basically. They make him not feel good and it just breaks my heart! So please, pray for Louie to be heart worm free with us!

Along with being busy and blaming my lack of posting on that, I feel like I should also be honest with you. I have been having a bit of a hard time the past couple weeks. At some points I have actually felt depressed or wondered if something was wrong. It all comes down to some personal family issues that my Florida family is dealing with, and then the exhaustion and just not feeling right from this pregnancy-not to mention working full time, plus overtime. I feel like I really can't complain because we get to go to the doctor and see the baby ALL the time, and I haven't been sick for weeks at a time, but even so...I don't enjoy being pregnant. I have been trying to focus on the amazing thing that my body was built to do by the grace of God, but some days are just rough in plain English. Please don't start to worry though, everything is good and baby is thriving away as of our last appointment.

Our last doctors appointment for the baby was on 10/26 and everything was dandy. The baby had a strong heart rate again and we were able to pick it up on the doppler so I did not have an ultrasound. Our doctor is confident in our pregnancy and prenatal care with diabetes. I still feel like we have a wonderful medical team working with us to bring this little miracle into the world! Our next appointment is actually on Monday and we will hopefully find out the gender. We are scheduled for a scan at the local hospital as opposed to going to my doctors office. I am nervous and excited at the same time. You can bet your bottom that there will be a gender announcement along with a name announcement as soon as we know something. And yes, we have both names settled on as of a couple weeks ago! Any last minute guesses as to the gender??

On our agenda for this weekend is painting the last room in our house that needs painting; our living room! I am not at all looking forward to the actual project but I am looking forward to the outcome of the project. We are so thankful that Stephen's Dad will be helping out some since I can do less and less each week it seems! We hope you all have a great weekend, see ya next week (I promise!)!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot Take 1

Hi guys!

I know it's been a while since I posted...and that I am behind on my bump date posts. I have been thinking about it though and do actually have a couple bump pictures to post in this post...you just have to be patient!

Last weekend we took advantage of the lovely fall colors and tried to get some decent pictures worthy of this years Christmas card. Let me just say, it was not such an easy task. First of all, I know I am pregnant, but I feel HUGE in pictures. Second, it was cold and windy so my eyes would not stop watering...which doesn't make for lovely pictures. Y'all, let me just tell you...we took A LOT. I am so thankful that I have a great husband who is always a good sport about this stuff and just smiles for the camera. Love him!

Here are a few:

Kind of like this one but don't know if it's too close up for Christmas cards...thoughts?

Not fond of this one at all, but you can definitely see baby D making an appearance here! 

This one is my favorite...

The leaves are so pretty around our house. I love fall!

And of course, the most photogenic member of our little family-Louie! :) Of course he will be making an appearance on our Christmas cards!

So after our little photo shoot on Saturday we were off running errands and picking up paint. We decided this was the weekend to paint the dreaded kitchen...and now it's done! YAY! The kitchen was a tan/pinkish color when we moved in and we had planned to change it, but it wasn't high on the priority list. Well, insert a pregnancy and a wife with a to-do list before baby arrives and now we have a painted kitchen! I am glad to no longer see the "chicken skin" colored walls as we lovingly referred to them! Can't wait to go home tonight and hang things back on the wall and see everything put together!

Unfortunately, it's a difficult room to photograph so there might not be any before and after pictures...BUT, this is the color:

It's Sherwin Williams, in cargo pant.

Sunday was spent painting, relaxing and working on a little project for the nursery that I will be revealing once complete.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

What will Baby D be...boy or girl?

When I say that I am dying to find out the gender of this baby, I am not kidding at all. I am so anxious to know so we can settle on the name and make the announcement. Of course, we don't care if it is a boy or girl-we really have no preference. At first during this pregnancy, I really felt like this baby was a boy...but now my feelings change almost on a daily basis, ha! We had a Drs. appointment last Friday and Stephen was able to go with me for the first time. I begged to know the gender but our sweet Dr. (who I love!) said it was too early for their ultrasound machine...so we still don't know for sure at this point. She said I will find out around 20 weeks when we go to Indianapolis for our 3D and fetal echo scans...ugh, that seems like SO long to wait!

In the meantime, let's talk about old wives tales and what they indicate we are carrying!

Morning sickness: They say that little girls make their mama's sick and I have no thrown up one time, though there have been close calls. This indicates BOY!

Soft or dry skin? Mine has been dry (which was normal for me pre-pregnancy) which indicates BOY!

Are you craving citrus? Oh yes, mandarin oranges, orange juice, naval oranges...YUM. This indicated GIRL!
 
Have you felt glowing or less than beautiful and had lots of breakouts? I have had a few breakouts...more than pre-pregnancy, and no I don't feel like I am "glowing". Little girls are supposed to cause breakouts so... GIRL! 
Heartbeat indicator: All of our heartbeats have been fast; in the 170's. It is slowing down a little bit because on Friday it was in the 150s. I think this indicates GIRL!
Craving fruit or meat?: FRUIT and some chicken, but almost no beef-yuck! This indicates
GIRL!

My guess is GIRL! (This week anyways)... What are your guesses???

 

At our appointment Friday, I asked my Dr. if she believed any of these and she said no. So of course, we aren't taking any of these things to the bank so to speak. It's just fun to guess and dream about the baby boy or girl growing inside me! :)

 

Have a great Monday, friends!

 

 

Baby Bucket List Part 2

I wanted to take some time and revisit our baby bucket list...mostly for my benefit and memory. We have been very busy around the house almost every weekend and we are slowly making progress. I think we will finish this list WAY before baby arrives, which is fine with me. I want to slow down and enjoy the little time we have left as a family of two plus our puppy, Louie. Let's take a look at our progress, shall we?

Baby Bucket List

·         Have one garage door working with an opener by Thanksgiving

·         Build in closet in master bedroom

·         Move jewelry armoire into bathroom

·         Move dresser from nursery into master bedroom

·         Paint living room & repair ceiling

·         Paint Library

·         Paint kitchen

·         Have windows professionally cleaned

·         Have carpets professionally cleaned

·         Get bassinet from Florida

·         Paint mud-room door

Wants/Needs

·         Baby crib

·         Changing table/dresser

·         Glider rocker for nursery

·         Glider rocker for living room (check)

·         Travel system, stroller and car seat

·         A baby!! J

See? We have several things crossed off already! A big thanks to the help of Stephen's parents. Dave worked so hard on building my closet and now that it is near complete I love it!

What do you think we should work on next? I am leaning towards moving the furniture since that will be easy...then I think we should paint something. Will it be the library or the kitchen? Time will tell!

And since my post is complete without a picture (in my mind), here is our sweet boy after getting groomed last week:

He was just snuggling with my on the couch and I was soaking up every minute of it. We sure do love him!

Have a great day!

Bump Date-11 weeks!

How Far Along? 11 weeks and 3 days as of today, but 11 weeks and 2 days in these pictures. Same as last week...noticing a trend?

 

Size of Baby? A lime!
 

Maternity Clothes? Yes on pants, everything pre-maternity is just too tight. I have a couple (2) maternity tops that are doable right now, but mostly tops are regular still. The top in this photo is maternity and I will wear it through every season. Today I paired it with a cardigan but not in the photos...I was hot at home! :) Should have worn a cardigan in the photos though...sorry for my ghostly white arms!
 

Gender? We don’t know for sure and won’t for a few more weeks but I am still thinking boy...we have a boy name picked out (first and middle), but no girl name for sure yet. We have two first names that are high candidates though...
 

Movement? None that I can feel yet.

Sleep? Pretty good minus the potty breaks. Thankfully I have always been able to fall asleep quickly so getting back to sleep isn't a problem. I just bought a new mattress topper today for our bed and I am excited to see what additional support that provides! Thank you Kohls!
 

Food Cravings? Oh my, pizza! Can we have pizza for dinner tonight hun?? (hubs reads the blog)
 

What I miss?  Checking my blood sugar 8 times a day instead of 20. I am crazy about checking my blood sugar now. I wonder when the insurance company will cut me off and stop supplying test strips? There should really be an underground market for those things!

 

Symptoms?  Still just sheer exhaustion. I am so tired all the time...I think I am a little easily set off too. Like some people are work get on my last nerve pretty quickly...maybe I just reach the end of my rope sooner?

Best Moment Last Week? Putting together the crib and seeing it in the nursery! It just makes it seem to much more real! I have been spending more time than usual in the nursery too-I enjoy going in there to pray for sweet baby D!

 

Looking Forward to? Feeling movements, hearing the heartbeat again and finding out the gender!!! :)

 

Weekend (more like week) Wrap-Up!

Happy Monday, folks! It's a warm and rainy day here but I am quietly longing for fall. In fact, pumpkins and pumpkin scented things have started making appearances around our house. All of our fall decor just might relocate from the basement this coming weekend! Have you decorated for fall yet?

Here is a little of what we were up to last week:

A little bit of front porch sitting...

And a little bit of morning cuddles! :)

My first shipment of maternity clothes arrived from Old Navy last week too. Out of the 4 items, I can only wear one shirt now. I am sure we (me and baby D) will soon grow into the others so no worries!

The hubs and I have back to back birthday's in August. His was last Tuesday and together are cards made a pretty big display. We felt so loved! Also, there are some cards related to our big announcement too!

We had ordered this glider from Walmart.com almost immediately after we found out we were expecting. Ideally we would like two, one for upstairs and one for down but at least now we have one. It was on clearance and was such a steal! Louis isn't sure out it yet...

But the hubs likes it and approves! :)

Stephen and his birthday cake last week. Sadly, I didn't eat any of it. I am in a rut where anything that I cook is unappealing to me and the baby. I am a fan of Stephen cooking or eating out right now to say the least! 

Lunch hour pedicure=LOVE!

WOO, it's finally Friday!

Wings for dinner on Friday= YUM. I'm sorry baby I know you need folic acid....but tonight, we are having hot wings!! :)

Saturday we had a full day planned that mostly included shopping and a little eating (I am pregnant after all). Chipotle is my absolute favorite!

Stopped in David's Bridal to purchase my Matron of Honor dress for an April wedding. Yep, that will be about 4 to 6 weeks after Baby D's arrival. Needless to say, I ordered up a size!

I just can't resist baby clothes. I mean seriously, I barely resisted them when I wasn't pregnant but now that I am? It's like game on! I proudly purchased this cute number with my TJ Maxx Birthday gift card from a co-worker. Adorable I tell you!

Love me some Target sales!

Saturday evening we headed to a surprise birthday party for a friend hosted by his wife. It was a great time with delicious food. As always, it's just nice to see people that you don't get to see all to often. After our full day of running around and shopping I was so tired. We headed home and I promptly took a warm bath and put my feet up!

Sunday morning we headed out to church and then spent the afternoon at home relaxing. We grilled burgers for lunch and I baked an oatmeal casserole to serve as breakfast all week. I found the recipe on Pinterest and it was decent this morning, though in the future I think I will tweak it a little! :) We also spent the afternoon watching hours and hours of special features for The Hunger Games. After that I wanted to watch the movie again but Stephen declined since we had just watched it on Thursday. What can I say? I am a movie geek! Oh and I also made a new curtain (no sew) for our back door. I didn't take a picture but I will, I promise!

So what did you do this weekend? We hope that everyone had a safe and relaxing break from work!

Oh and last but not least, we now have a Baby D planning book...meaning I feel much more prepared and able:

Don't you love it?