Houston.. we have a kicker!! (22 weeks)

Yup, my baby girl has finally made her presence known! She started really kicking a few days ago and hasn't stopped since. Mark has even gotten to feel her kick a few times now. It's always so nice to share those moments with him. Now I can't keep his hands off my belly! Last night he put his phone on my belly with his iPod playing and she kicked so hard it nearly knocked it right off. It hurt but it was really funny! She always seems to kick the most whenever there is music playing. Maybe she'll be my little dancer?!

So the belly is still growing.. and growing..

I'm still feeling pretty good besides the heartburn. And let me tell you.. holy heartburn! There seriously isn't one day that goes by that I don't get it. I sometimes feel like she's in my throat. Even Tums doesn't seem to relieve it. I've come to the conclusion that I just have to suck it up because I can guarantee that I'll continue to get it daily until she's here. Boy is it uncomfortable though! Maybe the old wives tale will be true in my case and she'll come out with a head of hair. :)

We've been busy buying things for her nursery. We have a good start but now we just need to start doing the hard part - getting the room cleared out so Mark can paint! Hopefully we'll have time to get started soon. Well, that's pretty much the only update I have. I'll be back next week and hopefully I'll have something new to report then!

Have a good 4th of July weekend!

21 week belly shot...

Seriously?! I'm only 21 weeks pregnant and still have 19 weeks to go. I sure hope Lucy is just having a growth spurt and she slows down a little because if not, I think I'm going to resemble Violet from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

 

Halfway there... :)

Yep, yesterday I turned 20 weeks!! Whoo-hoo! I really hope the next half of the pregnancy treats me as good as the first half. Here's a little pregnancy survey I filled out...

Total weight gain/loss: At my last appt. it was 6 lbs but I'll find out tomorrow. I'm thinking I'm closer to 8 or 9lbs now.

Maternity clothes? I'd say I wear them about 75% of the time since they're just so darn comfy. Thanks to my belly band I can still wear a lot of my pre-pregnancy pants although it is getting a lot more tough to get those bad boys over my hips these days. ;)

Stretch marks? None so far! (knock on wood)

Sleep: It's definitely still a favorite past time of mine! I'm still getting some horrible hip pain when I sleep so that's been making it harder and harder.

Best moment this week: Feeling her move around like crazy in there! It's just pokes though.. no real kicks just yet!

Food cravings: Carbs, carbs, carbs. And fruit!

Gender: GIRL

Belly Button - in or out? I've always had such a deep inny but it's starting to poke!

Wedding rings - on or off? Still on but getting tighter.. and tighter..

What I miss: Sushi and wine

What I am looking forward to: Feeling them kicks!

Milestones: I'm half-way thru the pregnancy now!

Well that's my mini-update this week. Not too much to report on these days! I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow (just a check-up) so if I have any new news I'll come back and make another update. Have a great week!

Picture challenge #6

This week's picture challenge is... Post a picture of the person you'd love to trade places with for a day.

Now I know he isn't technically a "person" (to you, but I may have to disagree!) but I would have to say.. Silas!

How could you not want to live the dog life at least for a day? I mean, seriously, his whole life is fulfilled just by sleeping all day, eating, getting treats, having belly and ear rubs from mommy & daddy, sleeping in a comfy bed every night, and going on long walks. I think his only worry in the world is getting his ears flushed every week! Other than that.. this boy lives the life. :)

19 weeks!

Can you believe I'm almost half-way through my pregnancy? I really have a feeling this second trimester is just going to fly by! I sure hope it does. I am getting less and less impatient! So we had a sonogram yesterday and our little princess is definitely all girl! We wanted the confirmation from this sonogram to make sure before we started decorating the nursery. So without further ado, here's a picture of our beautiful baby girl Lucy Brielle.

Isn't she just the cutest? It doesn't appear that she has any of my features but has quite a bit of Mark's! Now I have a feeling she's going to come out as his clone. In regards to her name.. I'm so glad we've finally decided and can now start calling her by her name. Well we actually picked it out a couple of weeks ago but wanted to try it out before announcing it and we just love it! Lucy has always been one of Mark's favorites and I really love it too. We're already started calling her our little "Lu-Lu Bug". Brielle means "God is my strength". How could you not like that meaning? I wanted a modern, spunky name to go with Lucy so it didn't sound so old-fashioned and thought it worked perfect!

Other than that.. so far everything is going great with Lucy! She appears to be a healthy girl and measuring exactly where she should be. During the sonogram she had her hands in her face (again!) and her legs crossed at the ankles (again!). It's so funny that the past 3 sonograms we've had she has done the same thing. I can't wait to see if she continues those habits when she's outside the womb.

I'm still not feeling her kick yet and getting impatient for that too. I am constantly feeling the flutters more and more lately but they're still so faint. Come on Lucy.. give me a good kick! I can take it. :) Btw, here's a new 19 week belly shot. Am I getting bigger?

Mark and I ordered her crib and dresser last week and we're going to pick it up tomorrow night. We also picked out and purchased her bedding that we're so excited about picking up tomorrow as well. We can't wait to start painting her room and getting it all ready. Now I know it sounds like we're ahead of the game but we're not always the fastest at getting house projects done (due to our work & school schedules these days) so we figured we'd better start now in order to have it done before she's here!

So that's all for this week. I'll be back next week with a new baby update when I'll officially be at the half-way mark! YAY!

Picture Challenge #5

Up this week is... (drum roll)...

Post a picture of your favorite memory.

Now I could post a million pictures from my childhood since I have so many fond memories of being a young, carefree kid but I decided to stick to my adult life (mainly because I don't have any pictures from my childhood scanned!). At first I was going to post a picture from the night Mark and I got engaged since I seriously couldn't have been anymore happier (hey, I waited 4 years!). But then I got to thinking and finally decided this was probably one of my all-time favorite memories...

Our honeymoon! Now some of you may be thinking "well why not your wedding?". Our wedding is another great memory but I feel like it was sooo stressful and went by super fast. We flew to the Dominican Republic the next day and although we were dead tired and got stuck in Charlotte for the night, we still had such an amazing time. It was so surreal to finally call him my husband. I remember feeling as though I couldn't have been happier. I just married the love of my life, we had just bought a house, we were getting our careers started, and finally starting our life together as husband and wife. Not to mention, we stayed at the most beautiful resort and it was 5/6 days of pure relaxation! Just what we needed. :) Ahh, I'd kill to go back one day!

*Sidenote* - Just want to apologize if I'm M.I.A. within the next several weeks. School unfortunately started back up this week and looks like my classes are going to be super tough and require a lot of work! I'll do my best to manage though. :) Btw, we have a sonogram coming up on Monday so I'll definitely post a baby update then!