Our Last DINK Christmas

Ben and I went out last Friday for my company christmas party - thought I'd include a shot on the blog of us all dressed up! Sorry Ben for using the picture where your head is cut out - this is the one I looked cutest in ;) When you have your own blog you can choose which pictures you want to put up.

Please note how handsome Ben looks in his sweater vest... shouldn't hear wear this all the time?

Watching her grow!! 28 weeks, 7 months

I'm now officially in my third trimester! Only 12 weeks left, but I'm hoping those 12 weeks go slow! Fortunately, I've really enjoyed carrying around our little girl, so that has made pregnancy go quite smoothly. I also still feel like we have tons to do to prepare for her arrival, all these thoughts keep running through my mind: when are we going to paint the nursery? are we financially ready for this? we don't have a car seat or mattress yet! how many date nights can Ben and I fit in (an afford) before the baby comes? And so on, and so on...

Every once in a while I just need to take a deep breath!

Here are the latest pics of my belly (to see how much I've grown, just click the belly tag at the bottom of my post and you can see all of my belly pictures from week 14 on).




(two things to note in this picture, that are different than all of our other pictures: 1. Ben surprised me last night with the final piece to our bedroom suite - my night stand! 2. Somebody had an accident on our comforter last weekend so we are borrowing the guest room comforter unitl ours is done being cleaned... I won't name any names, but let's just say it wasn't Ben or I)

26 Week Belly

Ok - these are more like 26.5 week belly pictures, but life got away from me for a couple days! Belly is growing week by week, no real complaints other than some major back pain this week. I don't think it's necessarily from the extra belly I am carrying, but just from sleeping wrong or having bad posture at work. I just wish I could take some heavy muscle relaxers or at least have a glass of wine right now... Aspirin just doesn't have enough kick.

It's funny, I never would have thought it, but I've realized how many drugs my body is reliant on- now that I can't have them... caffeine, ibuprofen, cigarettes... ok, just kidding about the cigarettes, but still - I'd love a nice dose of Advil right now.

Setting Up The Nursery

We are finally making some movement on the nursery! Grandma/Grandpa Wehner got us a gift card to Babies R Us recently, so after what seemed like many hours of research and shopping we finally picked out a crib for little Olive.

After moving all of the guest room furniture into the study, Ben and I set up the baby's crib last week. While there is still a lot more to do (paint, decorate, get supplies), I must admit that it felt like a huge relief to have one thing done. March 12th does seem far away, but with the holidays, I know it is going to sneak up on us.

Olive also got her first baby blanket from Grandma Sapp (shown above on the crib) a couple weeks ago, can't wait to cuddle her up in it at night. Grandparents are amazing, aren't they?!?!

Baby Girl Clothes!

A few weeks ago we received our very first baby girl clothes (thanks Trit!). Of course I was super thankful to start collecting goodies for our little one, but I was more overwhelmed with the fact that we will soon have a little girl that will actually fit in those clothes (and look pretty darn cute)! People always ask if the pregnancy seems to be flying by or taking forever, but I always tell them the same - it seems just right. While I can't wait to hold our baby in my arms (wearing something pink of course) I am really enjoying being pregnant and carrying her in my belly as well. There is also still a lot to do and prepare for before she comes, so I'm glad she still has some time to "bake".

I can't wait to dress Olive in those adorable pink pants shown above, but for now, I am going to enjoy gazing at them folded in her nursery.

24 Week Belly - 6 months!!

The baby is growing so much, and so is my belly! I can really feel her move now, all throughout the day - especially after meals and when I'm sitting. It's amazing, but also feels like an alien is inside of me... weird...

23.5 Week Survey

Week and day: 23 weeks and 4 days

Belly Button in or out: in between, slowly but surely it's getting pushed out!

Wedding rings on or off: On, although I just recently had to retire my favorite black boots as they don't zip up my calves as easily as they used too... :(

Food cravings: Don't really notice anything out of the ordinary, maybe craving salty things a bit more than usual

Food aversions: none

Nausea: none - I really feel like my normal self, besides a little extra around my belly

Energy level: energy level is SO much better than the first trimester, but I definitely can't "party" like I used to, if I stay up much past 10pm I'm a little cranky (just ask Ben)

Weight gain: About 22lbs - just as last time, still trying to watch this closely! I gained a lot in the beginning, and it slowed during the second trimester, but trying to put the weight on as slow as possible!

Mood: I think pretty normal, but I just asked Ben this and he said "generally pissed"... hahahaha... I hope he's kidding

Maternity clothes: Oh yeah, I'm all maternity clothes now. Fortunately I can still wear some of my cardigans - but other than that, I'm pretty much wearing all maternity clothes.

Size of baby: Almost an ear of corn! A foot long and just over a pound.

Changes of baby: Brain and taste buds developing, lungs develop respiratory "branches"

Next appointment: Tomorrow, just a routine check up (baby's heart beat, my blood pressure, weight, etc.)

Other: Strangers are beginning to congratulate me and ask about the pregnancy - I like it, but it's funny, I never would have walked up to someone and asked about their pregnancy unless they were 9 months pregnant, rubbing their belly and looked obviously pregnant. But maybe I'm just overly cautious!

22 Week Belly

My belly is really starting to grow! I have even had 2 strangers ask me when I was due, so I'm guessing I'm really starting to look like a pregnant lady. Plus it's becoming more and more difficult to bend over and tie my shoes - surprising how a belly changes your life!

Gender Party

Again, meant to post about this a while back, but got busy with life!

The week we found out the gender of the baby, my two wonderful friends, Erin and Katy, decided to host a party for us to announce the sex of the baby. The ultrasound was on a Tuesday so logically, we made the party for that following Friday. Little did I know that our little secret would be extremely hard to keep over those four days. It wasn't so much that I wanted to tell people, it was that terms like "pink" and "she" kept slipping off my tongue whenever I would talk about the baby. How quickly I became used to referring to Olive as a little girl!

To announce the sex of the baby, we decided to copy my dear friend Katie's sister, Sarah, by baking a pink or blue gumball into the middle of a cupcake. (truthfully the whole idea for the party was Sarah's! but it was just too cute of an idea to pass up!)



After 2 batches of cupcakes and testing about 5 different candies (I couldn't find pink gumballs that week), we went with pink/red starbursts baked into the middle of the cupcake. The whole cupcake process actually proved to be quite a challenge, poor Ben had to taste test about 10 cupcakes one night until I finally got it right!

None the less, the party was a blast, and everyone was surprised/excited to find out that little Olive will be a baby girl. We each wore a blue or pink shirt, depending on what we thought the sex of the baby would be. As you can see, most thought that Olive would be a boy...



There were a few pink votes, although I think the boys were just wanting to wear pink that night...



Thanks to Katy and Erin for such a wonderful night - I couldn't think of a better way to share our exciting news!

It's A Girl!

There has been lots of exciting things happening over the past couple weeks, so much so that I have neglected writing about them on the blog! Slowly but surely I am going to get some more posts up this week.

Since I last wrote, we had a very exciting doctor's appointment. We found out little Olive is going to be a girl! I had been anticipating this appointment for several weeks, I hadn't gotten to see Olive since our last ultrasound and I was so excited to find out the sex of the baby. When we got to the appointment, we had the ultrasound first. For the first 15 minutes or so (what seemed like an eternity) the ultrasound tech was taking snapshots of the babe, pressing on my belly, and not really saying anything. Only she and Ben could see the screen (I was laying down and it was out of my view), how unfair - didn't they know I was the one putting in all the work here! As she kept looking at the screen and not saying anything I couldn't help but think - is there something wrong? why won't she show me the baby? can Ben see what the sex is? Needless to say, when she finally turned the screen I realized that Ben probably couldn't make out most of what he was seeing (because I couldn't either!) and that everything was healthy with the babe, she just needed to take a lot of pictures for the doctor. As we watched our baby move around on the screen, I couldn't help but tear up at the amazing site of what God had created and was living inside of me.

We had to look for a bit to see what the sex is, Olive was facing my spine making it difficult to get a straight on shot of what was between her legs. But, as we continued to look and try to get her to move around - we realized there were only two legs and a butt - no penis in site. (I'll upload pictures later). A baby girl!! I was elated. I had thought for sure we were having a boy, mostly because of Ben's genes but also because I had wanted a girl so bad, I wanted to prepare for having a boy.

Ben was shocked as well, but also very excited. I do have to note that as we left the appointment he said, "well, it could still be a boy" - which made me chuckle, and I reaffirmed him that yes, if little Olive was hiding the boy parts from the ultrasound tech, there is a chance that Olive will be a boy on delivery day - but told him not to get his hopes up. :)

The rest of the appointment went well, routine blood work, doctor said everything is looking healthy with the babe- weighing in at 11ounces, she is in the 57th percentile, and she appeared to have all her essential parts (4 chamber heart, spine, 2 kidneys, etc.)

I left the appointment excited as ever and mixed up a batch of pink icing to bring in cupcakes for my co-workers and share the good news.

Here we are on our way to the appointment... very eager and excited!!



Even the pup was excited this morning to... (oh wait, she's full of energy every morning)

20 Week Belly

More posts to come, but wanted to get pictures up of my 20 week belly - it looks like Olive grew a lot over the past two weeks!

19 Week Update

Just got back from Florida this weekend! Had a great time but it was quite different being on vacation while I was pregnant. I kept worrying about what things I could do and could not do - what seafood is "ok", can I lay out, can I go jet skiing, etc... I also wore a maternity swimsuit instead of my regular suit. I asked Ben how I could go from being a normal 20-something, to being a dorky mom in what seemed like a day...



None the less, we had a blast! I don't know if it was all the food we were eating on the trip, or if it's the actual baby, but my belly seemed to grow a ton while we were gone! And the coolest thing- my stomach actually is starting to feel hard. I still don't know if you'd recognize me as a "pregnant lady" on the street, if you didn't know any better, but I am definitely feeling pregnant more and more each day.

We go to get our second ultrasound on Tuesday!! I am so excited to see little Olive swimming around, and hopefully to see if we are having a boy or a girl. I'm also excited just to see how Olive is doing, it's been about 7 weeks since my last doctor appointment which has made me pretty antsy about how the babe is doing health-wise. I haven't "felt" Olive move yet - people keep asking, and I keep focusing on trying to feel, but I can't really say that I have felt anything definite yet. I'm hoping to ask the doctor about that.

18 Week Belly

Publishing this a little late because we were on vacation, so will do an update in a different post. Little bit of a different background than the others because we were in Florida (notice my face is a little sun burned...)

17 weeks - clean closet and status update

Cleaned out my closet today and it made me realize two things: 1. I have a lot of scarfs (I really should stop buying any more) and 2. I have gained a lot of weight... sigh...

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be putting on weight for little Olive (Katy and I thought that would be an appropriate nickname for the fetus), but right now I'm just feeling fat. As I put away shirts that I wore at the beginning of the summer, I wondered - will I ever fit in these again? I hope so! I think because I'm in the in between stages, it makes it hard to be excited about gaining weight, i.e. my belly isn't big enough to look definitely pregnant but is larger than my pre-pregnancy days. I'm hoping that the weight gain won't be so bothersome once my belly has grown a bit and especially once I can start to feel the baby.

17 weeks and a few days now and still haven't felt the baby yet. Most books said it would take most first time moms till 18 or 20 weeks until you can feel the baby, so I'm not too worried about that yet. Haven't been to the doctor in a while though (I opted to wait 7 weeks between appointments so we could get the next ultrasound faster) so right now I'm not feeling very "pregnant" at all. I'm really looking forward to the ultrasound, getting to see Olive, finding out the sex, and getting to feel Olive move for the first time. Maybe then I will feel more like all this weight gain is worth it!

Overall I've been feeling really good though. Health wise, I'm much less tired, no nausea and pretty much feel like myself (plus a few pounds). The only thing that has really been different is all the headaches. It seems I get headaches 5 out of 7 days a week. I can't figure out why yet. At first I thought it was the weather change, maybe not enough sleep, but I've tried everything and it seems nothing can keep them away. For now, I'm just hoping taking 1 Tylenol a day isn't harmful to Olive. Need to call the doctor to confirm.

16 Week Pictures and Updates

Here are the latest pictures of my belly! Doesn't look like much growth over the 14 week pictures, but I definitely feel like my belly is growing.



Ben wanted to jump in on this one...



For updates this week, started wearing maternity jeans and am loving it!! I had been wearing a belly band (thanks to Erin!) for several weeks, and could have continued, but I felt like I was just fidgeting with my pants all day. The maternity pants are so much more comfortable to have on all day. I also ordered some maternity shirts from old navy, and am feeling much more comfortable in those as well. It's not that my belly is super big, but the extra room in the maternity shirt feels so much more comfortable than my regular shirts.

Also, I got a really exciting present this week - a Babyplus Prental Education System. Babyplus is one of our clients at Compendium and after Sarah Seberry, one of my coworkers, met with them last week they gave her a Babyplus sytem to give to me! It is basically a device that plays sounds for the fetus to hear, similar to the mother's heartbeat. As the fetus develops and hears the sound it begins learning by distinguishing the sound of the device from the sound of my heart beat. It is worth $149, so I was incredibly excited to receive this gift and also for the benefits our little boy/girl will receive from my using it.

Only 23 more days till we find out the sex! Any guesses?? I'm thinking boy, so does Ben... we'll see!

15 Week Survey

Week and day: 15 weeks

Belly Button in or out: In

Wedding rings on or off: On

Food cravings: Nothing in particular, it changes daily, but when I get a food on my mind, there is no stopping me from getting that. I have been typically wanting salty foods - McDonald's fries, Taco Bell, etc...

Food aversions: not anymore! coffee and chicken used to sound awful to me

Nausea: not anymore either - as long as I am able to eat every couple hours, if I wait to long and get an empty stomach I start to feel sick, but nothing a little food doesn't cure

Energy level: OK - I'm not as tired as I was in the first trimester, but I still want to pass out every night around 9pm (makes for a really great social life). As long as I get 8-8.5 hours of sleep a night, I'm ok, but I don't think I could survive on less.

Weight gain: About 12 lbs. - and trying to keep it low! Why does it feel like every person I talk to that has had kids says they gain 50-60 pounds?!? I'm doomed...

Mood: Up and Down (don't ask Ben this question... I'm sure he'd have a lot to say!) Most of the time I feel normal, but I definitely get into cranky moods and just want everyone to stop talking to me for a couple hours... is that so wrong?

Maternity clothes: Not too much, just longer shirts and a belly band (thanks erin!). Stocking up right now for when my belly really starts to grow (accidentally bought $150 worth of maternity clothes at Old Navy online yesterday) but haven't started wearing them yet.

Size of baby: An apple or a baseball, whichever is easy for you to visual (unfortunately, I think it's easy for Ben to visual a baseball, not only bc he loves the sport, but also bc I can't remember the last time he ate any fruit)

Changes of baby: moving all of her limbs, senses light, forming taste buds

Next appointment: October 20th - we find out the sex of the baby!!!

Other: Overall things are going well, I've been feeling a lot better. I'm really excited to find out the sex of the baby - I feel like it will make the baby part of this whole pregnancy thing seem more real. Right now I feel like we talk about the pregnancy all the time, but not so much the actual living creature that is going to live with us soon... lots to still think about!

14 Week Belly

After taking these pictures, I feel like it looks like I'm finally starting to show! OK- it could be the Don Pablos and PF Changs we ate this weekend, or the bags of candy/chips we had at work today, but whatever it is, I'm excited to see something starting to grow!

12 Week Belly

12 Weeks and feeling much better! Wanted to start documenting the growth of my belly. I'll try to get a new picture up every two weeks to show the progress.