Baby Barker Is A....

We are finally able to tell everyone that we are expecting a baby boy!  I'm so excited!  I had a "mommy instinct" if you will from the beginning that we were going to have a boy, so I'm glad to know that I was right!    The hubs and I were able to tell my parents a few weeks ago.  I made a fun cake that I will post pictures of later that was blue inside.  

Over Thanksgiving we flew out to Indiana to visit my in-laws.  I had pre-ordered some cupcakes from a local bakery there and had them put blue icing in the center of the cupcake.  The whole family was very anxious to get into those cupcakes!  When we finally allowed them to, everyone was so excited.  It was a really fun time.  I took some videos of my in-laws finding out the news, so I will be sure to post them later as well.  

Now, I can really begin to plan!  We have decided to do an airplane and map theme for his room.  I'm loving the vintage style airplanes and old world maps for this little guy!  I'm so excited to start decorating his room.  I believe picking a paint color is in order this weekend!  

I will be taking a 23 week picture tonight, so I will be getting that post up ASAP.  I've been slacking on the weekly updates with all the holiday hoopla starting.  So, more to come!

Halfway there! 20 Weeks

I know this post is kind of late seeing as how I am going to be 21 weeks tomorrow, but better late than never.  Just a few quick updates.  We had our 20 week ultrasound at my 19 weeks and 6 days mark.  Yes, we did find out the gender of our little bean, but that will be revealed in a later post.  As far as the bean goes, everything is looking and measuring perfect!  We were able to see the face (profile and straight on), legs, arms, spine, heart...it was so amazing.  This was the first time seeing our little one actually looking like a human.  The last picture we got, our bean was still bean size!  We were able to watch the bean on the ultrasound screen for a good 45 minutes.  It was a very cool moment that made this whole journey so much more real.

I am continuing to feel lots of movement.  John can feel the kicks much more consistently now.  The bean is most active after I have eaten and right before bed when I'm sitting still.  It makes me smile every time.  Other than that,  not much has changed.

I am definitely showing now and t-shirts are starting to get tight.  I am wearing a mix of maternity pants and regular pants with the belly band.  As well as a mix of maternity shirts and non-maternity shirts that are slightly stretchy and long. I have gained a total of 6 pounds.

The hubs and I will be revealing the gender to his family next week when we travel out there for Thanksgiving.  We were able to tell my parents this past weekend.  I made a cake that was colored on the inside for them to cut into after dinner.  After his family gets the big news, I will be putting up another post with the gender, and the details of how we revealed it to both families :)

In the mean time...here is the best profile shot we got of our little bean (personally I think that's a smile on that sweet little face)!  Take your guesses now and see if you're right next week!

Our Bean at 19 weeks 6 days old

19 Weeks - Happy Halloween!

I am 19 weeks pregnant this week and since yesterday was Halloween, I thought it necessary to take a bump picture :)  We are almost half way done growing our little bean and it's such a crazy thought!  It is a very surreal feeling that in just 21 more weeks, we will have our little bean here in our arms.  But, in the mean time we enjoyed a nice Halloween at home with our fur babies (who we took turn restraining every time the door bell rang).  We had lots of little trick-or-treaters last night and almost went through 2 Costco sized bags of candy.  My favorite costumes of the night had to be the little toddler dressed as a hamburger, and of course our little neighbor girl dressed as a care bear.

And now for some preggo stats and updates...

As I said I am 19 weeks now.  The baby is about 8.6 ounces and measures about 6 inches from head to butt.  I've heard that soon we will get to have measurements from head to foot, but since the bean is still so curled up, its too hard to measure how long the legs are.

The biggest news this week is that I have started to feel our little bean moving and kicking!  It's the coolest feeling (slightly weird to begin with, not gonna lie...but very cool).  At first I wasn't sure if that's really what I was feeling, but now I know.  For me, it feels like a very quick muscle spasm in my belly just under my belly button every time the bean kicks.  I never really felt the whole "flutters/bubbles" movement stage.  This little baby went straight for the kicking and punching...so much like daddy it seems :)  It was so strong Monday night, that even John could feel it when he put his hand on my belly.  It was so great to see his eyes get super wide and a huge smile spread across his face :)  I think we have quite the active little bean on our hands.

As far as eating and sickness, I'm feeling very normal.  I haven't gotten sick in a while which is a plus, and I'm eating normal food.  I definitely can't eat as much in one sitting as I used to, but it all works out.  I haven't had any real cravings (not that I consider cravings at least).

I'm not sure what my overall weight gain has been to this point.  I will probably find out at our 21 week appointment.  So I will be sure to post again.  Next Wednesday (Nov 7th) is the ultrasound where we get to find out the gender!  I'm so excited I can't even explain it :-D  I can't wait to start saying he or she :)

That's about it for now.  I won't be posting the gender right after we find out because we are going to tell the Indiana family in person which won't be for another couple of weeks.  But after that, I will have a gender post!  Until then, here is our Happy Halloween Bump!

Baby Moon Part 2 - New York

After Boston, we said our goodbye's to Jody, and took the train down to Penn Station in New York. Let me tell you...as someone who gets queasy on flights (especially with pregnancy)...the train is THE WAY to go!  Holy smokes, it was so easy, and so comfortable.  The seats were bigger, there was free wi-fi, plugs to charge your electronics, no restrictions on seat belt time or when you can use electronics.  It was fabulous.  I just wish there were high speed trains that we could take everywhere instead of having to fly.  But sadly, a train from here to Indiana would take like 3 days.  Boo.  But, I digress.  Here is the summary of our time in NY...

Day 1 in New York: This was kind of a half day since we didn't get to Penn Station until around 2:30 pm.  We walked to the hotel (yes, with our giant rolling suitcases along the streets of New York...) and dropped our bags off and headed into Times Square.  Since it was a half day we basically just walked around Times Square.  We went into the M&M store, bought some touristy things at one of the little shops along the way, saw the Naked Cowboy, and I just took in the big city :)  That night we went to dinner at a restaurant that I had gotten a Groupon deal for :)  Here is the link for Day 1  

Day 2 in New York: Day two started our excursions.  I had gotten a Living Social deal a while back for a 2 hour bike rental in Central Park.  So we used that and toured around all of Central Park.  It was so beautiful.  All that greenery in the middle of a huge bustling city.  Let me tell you, this preggo girl was huffin' and puffin' at some points on the bike ride, but it was so fun.  That night we had dinner at another Groupon restaurant  and then went to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theater.  WICKED IS AMAZING!!!! I absolutely loved it!  It was funny, the music was fantastic, and the costumes were great too.  I highly highly recommend it!  Here is the link for Day 2

Day 3 in New York: To start day 3, we headed to Times Square to stand in the TKTS line to get some half price Broadway tickets.  We expected to get the "cheap" seats for a decent show.  We did NOT expect to get Orchestra section, 8th row center tickets to Phantom of the Opera!  We got an amazing deal.  For anyone in New York that has a flexible schedule, I highly recommend standing in that line.  But be sure to get there early (I think it opened at 10).  We got there around 10:30/11 am and the line moved fairly quickly.  The show was at 2, so we killed some time by going to the NBC studios and Rockefeller Plaza.  We took the tour to "The Top of the Rock" (the top of the Rockefeller building) and saw the city from that view.  Then we headed back to Broadway and took in our second show of the week :)  Then we headed to dinner, and from there decided to do the Empire State building at night.  The views were incredible.  Here is the link for Day 3

Day 4 in New York: Day 4 was not quite as busy as it was cut a little short.  We changed hotels from our Marriott in Times Square (thanks mom and dad for giving us Marriott points!!!) to a really nice Westin in Jersey City right across the Hudson from Manhattan.  So we switched hotels, and then went back into lower Manhattan and took the cruise out to see the Statue of Liberty. Now, I know this is super famous and people plan for months to come see it, but honestly, I probably could have done with just seeing it from the mainland.  But, that's just me, and now I can say I've done it.  Then we took a stroll down to the Wall Street area and saw the Freedom Tower up close.  It's going to be amazing when it's done.  The rest was all under construction so we really didn't get to see the 9/11 memorial.  Next time...  Here is the link for Day 4

Day 5 in New York: Day 5 was kind of our catch up/catch all day.  It was rainy in the morning so we slept in.  Then we hit a bunch of spots that we weren't able to fit in on other days.  We went way uptown and I got to see Barneys NY, then we took a backstage tour of Radio City Music Hall and got to meet a real Rockette, and then we headed over to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.  That was a lot of fun to see all the celebrity wax people!  And finally we rounded off our day with dinner at the oh so touristy Hard Rock Cafe New York.  Here is the link for Day 5

All in all, it was a fantastic trip!  We had so much fun and saw so many cool things.  And we were grateful to be able to spend that much time together away from work before the baby comes.  It was a very successful vacation that went off without a hitch.  So many thanks to Jody for putting us up for 5 days/nights in Boston and being our personal tour guide!  And many thanks to my parents for giving us Marriott points and for letting us use their camera!  We appreciate it!

Check back soon for an 18 week baby bean update! :-)

Baby Moon Part 2 - Boston

This past weekend the hubby and I returned from our wonderful 10 day trip out to Boston and New York.  I had never really been to the east coast, so this was my first time getting to see all of the sites.  I'm going to try to keep this post short and not give you all of the details of every activity of every day...I'll try to just let the pictures do the talking. And, since I took quite a few a whole freakin' bunch of pictures...I'll post the links here instead of the actual pictures.  So, here is the summary of our trip to Boston.  In order to not make this a marathon post, I will write another one to cover NY.  Enjoy!

Day 1 in Boston: This was our day to travel to and through Cape Cod.  Jody was kind enough to drive us all over the place during our stay in Boston.  During the Cape Cod day we had lunch at a fun little diner along the way, saw some really cool beaches and dunes (very different looking dunes if you are used to the California/Pismo dunes), and climbed (thanks babe) the Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown.  The views were great though from that high up.  Here is the link for Day 1

Day 2 in Boston: Day two was our day to drive basically all over the state of Massachusetts (thanks again Jody!) to see some of the pretty fall colors that were beginning to change.  Unfortunately, the New England area had a pretty dry summer apparently, so the tree colors were not as bright as they have been in years past, but we still managed to see some really good ones.  We stopped in a few little quaint towns, and found a cool state park area that had a stream and a little wooden bridge (photo op :) ).  I just absolutely fell in love with the architecture style of the New England area!!  Here is the link for Day 2

Day 3 in Boston: Day 3 was our Downtown Boston day.  This day was a lot of walking!  It was a great change though, I needed the exercise.  First we stopped at the Sam Adams Brewery and the hubby got to do some beer tasting.  Jody and I had rootbeer since she's not a beer fan and I am obviously not drinking for the next several months!  Then we headed in to downtown where we saw a little bit of everything.  We saw the Boston Commons, Cheers, the Boston Harbor (or Habah as they say in New England), the Church of Paul Revere, just to name a few.  That night we had dinner at a nice restaurant and Jody treated us to The Blue Man Group!  The show was amazing and so fun :)  Here is the link for Day 3

Day 4 in Boston: Day 4 was our catch up on sleep day, laundry day, and chill out day.  We did a few things touristy, we went to Plymouth and looked around for a bit...saw the Mayflower replica, and Plymouth rock.  But other than that we ran a few errands with Jody, and just hung around the house since our train into the city to head to NY was an early one.  Here is the link for Day 4

16 Week Checkup

This should be a short post (especially in comparison to my last few!).  But I just had my 16 week check up on Monday and wanted to share how it went.  The hubs was unfortunately out of town on work travel so he was not able to come with me.  But, I am so thankful that my mom was able to take some time and be my moral support.

I'm was actually 15.5 weeks at this appointment, but since we are leaving on Babymoon Part 2 before I technically hit 16 weeks, we decided to have the appointment a little early.  That way we could get the bean checked out before we jet set :)

The appointment was short and sweet.  The usual: Get weighed, pee in a cup, blood pressure and all that jazz.  I also got a flu shot this time, since that season is just around the corner.  According to the Dr's scale, I have not gained any weight since my first appointment which was at 6.5 weeks.  Dr. said that was totally fine, and to just keep doing what I'm doing, as long as I'm not losing weight.

And then came the fun part...getting to hear the Bean's heartbeat.  It was a lovely steady 155 beats per minute which is just normal :)  I get a huge smile on my face every time I hear that little thump thump thump through the Doppler   I'm so glad my mom was able to experience it with me as well.  And thanks to her, you all can hear it now too :)  She took a little video on her phone and if you turn your sound up, you can hear our little bean's heart!  Thanks mom!!

15 Weeks

I am now officially 15 weeks and 1 day.  One more week till I hit 4 months!  It's so crazy and exciting and surreal all at the same time.  It's one thing to think about being pregnant, and growing the belly.  It's something totally different (at least to me) to imagine the little life that you're growing, and what it will be like when it finally comes into the world and changes our lives (for the better) forever.  I have so much fun day dreaming about it.  What it'll be like to bring our little bean home for the first time, introducing the bean to the puppies (our original babies), seeing the hubby turn into a huge pile of teddy bear mush when he holds his little bean for the first time :) .  It is all so exciting for me to think about.

But, enough of the sentimental stuff.  On to the stats!  Here is the bump picture for 15 weeks...I was actually good this time and took the picture ON the 15 week mark day!

You'll have to excuse the outfit, we had just taken the dogs to the park and I didn't feel like changing for a 3rd time :)

I'm still wearing all of my normal clothes, although as you can see, with more form fitting shirts, you are starting to see something there.  But, personally I still think most of the time it looks like I need to lay off the donuts.  I think I have one (maybe two?) pairs of pants that still button.  But I'm definitely wearing the belly bands almost every day.  I haven't graduated to maternity pants yet but I likely will by Thanksgiving.

As far as food goes, I'm back to eating normal food.  I'm not solely surviving on carbs anymore which is good.  However, I have found that my appetite seems to have shrunk significantly.  This past week I have had several occasions where I either eat too fast, or too much (still haven't figured out the real culprit here), and then none of what I just ate stays down.  Literally, I get sick either within 2 minutes of finishing eating, or right in the middle of my meal.  So, that has been kind of a bummer.  I guess the plus side is that I never feel sick or nauseous.  It just kind of happens all of the sudden.  So, I either need to eat slower, or learn where that point of no return is!

The stuffiness and sneezing still continues.  But, after all of the recommendations, I finally bought myself a humidifier.  I set it up and used it last night, and whaddya know.....I slept through the night!!  Well, minus having to get up to pee, but that's a given, and not likely to get any better any time soon.  But the humidifier seemed to do it's job.  Needless to say I will be putting it to the test every night now.

Some stats about the bean...

*About 3.5 to 4 inches from head to rump

*About 2.5 ounces

*About the size of an apple or navel orange

Courtesy of thebump.com

*The hairline is starting to form and the hair on the bean's head is starting grow
*All of the joints on the arms and legs are functioning, and the bean may even be starting to suck a thumb!
*Even though the eyes are fused shut for several more weeks, the bean is sensitive to light and would likely wriggle away if we shined a light on my belly.  

I think that's about all for now.  Other than steadily growing a belly, not much is changing.  I do have a couple of baby related projects in the works for my other friends that are also expecting (I know 6 other gals due between January and May!!)  So once I actually give those to their owners, I will be posting the tutorials on what I made.  But for now, it remains a secret so that the mommies to be will be surprised!!  I also plan to do some posts on what kind of gear we're looking to register for, as well as cloth diapering, because I fully intend to cloth diaper :)  (Hubby thinks I'm slightly nuts, but he's still supportive of saving the money!)  

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous weekend!