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)