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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

One More Week!

Exactly one week from today we will find out if Baby Brooks is a boy or a girl!!  We can't wait to finally know!  We are excited to really get down to business on a name for our little peanut and I can't wait to start buying cute little outfits!  Tick tock...tick tock...

Sign of the Times

Just had to post this...Always wanted to park in one of these spots.  It was just as fun as I'd always thought it would be!  :-)

Week 17

Dear Baby Brooks,

You are 17 weeks old now! You are just about the size of an onion at about 5 inches and weigh about 5 ounces. You're starting to put on your blanket of baby fat to keep you warm and cozy and your bones are getting super strong.  Here are the little details of the week...

How Far Along? Seventeen Weeks...161 days to go!

Weight Gain?  About 4 pounds?  We'll see at our appointment next week.

Sleep?  Sleep is still great.  I have noticed some pain in my hips the last few days and I think it might be from sleeping on my side.  I just feel like I need to stretch them out!

Miss Anything?  Not much!

Movement?  Not a peep...at least I don't think so!  All the books say I should be feeling something soon, so I've been trying to pay close attention!

Food Cravings?  Still been wanting fruit...and I've also eaten my fair share of hummus lately too!

Any Aversions?  I think we're out of the woods on this one!  Not too many things are turning my stomach lately!  I've eaten grilled chicken and fish and am going to get on the yogurt train tomorrow.  I still haven't had eggs yet, but they don't sound as terrible now as they did a few weeks ago!

Gender?  One more week!!

Symptoms?  Still pretty stuffy and congested.  This past weekend I had a raging migraine.  I've never had a true migraine before, so I'm chalking that up to the pregnancy fairies too.  It was terrible. Yuck.

Best Moment this Week?  We started to register this week!  We picked our furniture and bedding and all our big ticket items.  It felt good to knock some of that out!

Looking Forward To...  Barrett and I are both getting away this weekend.  I will be heading to Wilmington for a bridal shower we're throwing for my friend Claire and Barrett is heading to Asheville for a bachelor party.  Poor Buddy is heading to the vet to be boarded...Shh!  Don't tell him!  :-)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Nursery Furniture

Wehave officially decided on nursery furniture!  I was pretty much set on having white furniture in our nursery...but then I got in there and got my eyes and hands on the pieces and changed my mind.  We're going with a much darker, cherry wood.  After seeing them in person, we thought that the darker wood looked a lot better than the white we had inititally invisioned.  We are very happy with our choice.  And, since the bed goes from a crib, to a toddler bed, to a day bed, to a full size bed, we'll be happy with keeping the cherry wood for many years to come!  Here is a photo I found of it on the internet...



We also found a super comfy swivel glider and ottomon that we love.  It's the Quinn glider from Best Chairs. We ordered it in a khaki/cream color and are looking forward to lots of good snuggles in it.  :-)



Saturday, March 24, 2012

Baby Store Overload

Today Barrett and I went into Buy Buy Baby to start our registry.  We knew that we wanted all of our large items in gender neutral tones, so we thought we'd get a jump on registering.  The lady said, "Wow, you guys are registering early!"  I'm thinking...lady, you're crazy because there will be a baby here in less than 6 months and we've got stuff to do!  We picked out most of our big ticket items...stroller, car seat, pack n play, highchair, and our furniture!  After 2 1/2 hours, we'd only registered for about twenty items out of, oh I don't know, one thousand.  And, we were both exhausted!  Registering takes a lot out of you!  I do feel better about getting something done though.  I kept saying that I just felt like we needed to cross something off the list.  I feel much better having gotten a little accomplished today!  Once we find out whether Baby Brooks is a boy or a girl, we'll head back in and face the beast again.  :-)

Monday, March 19, 2012

Week 16

Dear Baby Brooks,

You are 16 weeks old now! You are just about the size of an avocado (according to Baby Center) at about 4 1/2 inches and weigh about 3.5 ounces.  You've got toenails and eyebrows and eyelashes!  You still can't open your eyes, but they are moving around and you are sensitive to light.  Here are the little details of the week...

How Far Along?  Sixteen Weeks...168 days to go!

Weight Gain?  I'm actually not sure.  My scale at home is a little wonky, and to be perfectly honest...I think I'm going to stop getting on it!  No sense in obsessing, right?  Anywho...I think I'm still only up a few pounds but it feels like much more than that.  I'm at that terrible in between stage right now...my regular clothes either don't fit, are uncomfortable, fit weird, or are unflattering.  Maternity clothers are still too big and fit weird and make me look much bigger than I actually am right now.  I'm ready to just go ahead and have a for real baby bump so it won't look like I've just eaten too much!!!

Sleep?  I've been sleeping great.  This weekend, I bought a body pillow and slept like a champ last night!  I'm a definitely belly sleeper and I think I stayed on my side all night!  All the baby books say this is the time to definitely stop sleeping/laying on your back (which I won't have too much trouble with) and it's going to get increasingly uncomfortable to sleep on my growing belly.  Hopefully, the body pillow will help me stay on my side.  I may recruit Buddy to snuggle up behind me to keep me from flipping the other way.  :-)

Miss Anything?  Really not anything.

Movement? Nada.

Food Cravings?  I've been wanting a lot of fruit lately.  Thanks to Lora, I have a whole Edible Arrangements bouquet to pick on for a few days.  :-)

Any Aversions?  There's still nothing making me sick, and I think I've turned the corner on my grilled chicken phobia (I had a grilled chicken salad this weekend). 

Gender?  We'll know on April 4 at 9:30 am!
Symptoms?  I have been pretty stuffy and congested for the last couple of weeks.  I can't tell if it's my normal seasonal allergies or if it's another little pregnancy gem.

Best Moment this Week?  Finally feeling like we're crossing a couple of things off the list!  We have the new guest room started and once that's complete in the next few weeks, we'll know the sex of baby and can get down to business on the nursery!

Looking Forward To...  We're thinking about going to browse around next weekend in preparation for registering!  We know that our big ticket items (car seat, pack-n-play, stroller, etc) we'll want to keep gender neutral and we're going to start really looking at baby furniture.  Those big box baby stores are incredibly overwhelming, but I think it's going to be lots of fun to really get into it!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Diaper Bag

Functional, fashionable (if diaper bags can be that), and with a reasonable price tag.  Those are the things I'm looking for in a diaper bag.  Not to mention, I don't want something that poor Barrett will have to carry around that looks too feminine or too much like a purse!  Now, don't get me wrong, would the stylish part of me like to have a beautiful, leather Coach or Kate Spade bag?  Yes.  Does the name Petunia Picklebottom make me giggle and want to own one?  Absolutely.  But, let's all be real, there are definitely other things I could be spending $200-$400 on right now.  Right?  So, after looking at LOTS of bags online, I think we may have found the one. 


I think it's cute without being too girly (I asked Barrett if he'd be cool with carrying it).  It's got lots of pockets and compartments.  It easily converts to strap onto any standard stoller handles.  It's well made and durable and isn't going to cost me two weeks worth of daycare.  :-)

Bedding

So, I've been going back and forth on baby bedding.  I've always thought that I'd like to have a neutral nursery...nothing super girly or super boyish.  Something I could use again.  Of course, when it came right down to it and I started perusing boy and girl bedding, there's just so much cute gender specific stuff!!  When I first started to look, I looked at everything!  I had no focus. 

For boys, I've always like nautical themes and I think whales are super cute.  Something like this maybe...




For girls, I'm a little all over the place.  Pink, purple, coral...bright, subtle, grays...Too many options!





And after spending the last few weeks thinking I might go gender specific...I revert back to my old favorite...neutral.  This weekend, I went into a home decor store and fell madly in love with this swivel glider/ottomon combo.  It was, literally, the most comfortable, beautiful chair I'd ever sat in and the irrational part of me wanted to charge it to my credit card and bring it home with me.  The rational part of me was thinking that I hadn't decided what we were going to do with the nursery and that i could probably find a glider/ottomon that would be just as functional for a price tag much, much cheaper.  Anywho, after seeing this beautiful chair in a color called "pecan" I think I've made up my mind that I was to stick with neutral colors.  Creams, khakis, whites, and a little punch or color here or there in the accessories.  I just think it looks so clean and modern.  So, here's what I'm looking at now...



So, we'll see what we end up with!

First Gift

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my amazing, wonderful, very best friend Lora!  She sent us a yummy creation from Edible Arrangements.  I have really been wanting fruit lately so it was such a fun surprise!!

Thank you Auntie Lora!  We love you!!



Consturction Zone

So, we're elbows deep in Operation Make A New Guest Room So We Can Have a Nursery.  We are so, so lucky and so, so thankful that my stepdad is a home improvement ace so we don't have to pay for labor costs on this project!  This weekend, my mom and Kenny came into town to help us get this under way.  So, we've got this first floor living space that is totally useless.  It's just a waste of space.  We are NEVER down there.  Our two bedrooms are on the third floor, and the current guest bedroom will become the baby's room.  So we're turning our useless living room into a bedroom...up goes a wall and a set of french doors.  Easy peasy.  :-)

This is what that room looked like at the beginning of constuction...



Carpet rolled back, furniture pushed out of the way...let the games begin!

Here's a little of the progress...










Next, Barrett will be working on sanding and mudding the seams in the drywall again and then we'll paint.  In a few weeks, Mom and Kenny will head back to Charlotte and we'll install the french doors and add the trim...then, I think we'll have a real live room!  We've moved all the furniture that was downstairs in the dumb living room upstairs to the living room we actually use.  The furniture that was upstairs is now downstairs in the construction zone but will eventually be making it's way to Goodwill.  Once it's an actual room, we'll move all the guest room furniture down and really start in on thr nursery! 

Here's what the upstairs living room looked like this morning...



And here's what it looks like now...




Soon, the coffee table and end tables will join their former living room mates at the Goodwill store and I'd like to get new end tables and a big leather ottoman...all in good time.  :-)

So, we've got a ways to go, but I definitely feel like we got a lot accomplished this weekdend!  I've been saying that I felt like I needed to be doing something...so, there we go!  I guess it wasn't really me who did all of that work, but it still feels like an accomplishment! 

While the boys were hard at work, mom and I did a little browsing around.  We went down to Waxhaw and met Cindy.  We browsed an antique shop, went into a home decor store where I fell in love with a glider (more on that another time), and had lunch.  Then, we went to Target and Old Navy so I could find a few maternity tops that I can wear to work with my scrubs.

All in all, it was a really great weekend!!

Looking forward to getting it all finished soon!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Week 15

Dear Baby Brooks,
You are 15 weeks old now! You are just about the size of a apple at about 4 inches and weigh about 2.5 ounces.  You can move all of the joints in your arms and legs now, and even though your eyes are still closed you are sensitive to light.  Here are the little details of the week...

How Far Along?  Fifteen weeks...175 days to go!

Weight Gain?  About 2 pounds now.  While I can still wear my regular clothes, they're becoming a little uncomfortable.

Sleep? Sleep is usually pretty good.  This weekend, we stayed in a hotel and I didn't sleep at all!  I couldn't get comfortable, the pillow was terrible, and there was a lot of snoring going on in the room!  No worries though...once I was back in my own bed I was out like a light.

Miss Anything?  Not too much.  :-)

Movement? Nada.

Food Cravings?  Well, I didn't think I was really craving anything, but today I swung by the grocery store to pick up some sour cream for dinner and came home with s'mores pudding cups, ice cream cones, EL Fudge cookies, and a whole slew of chocolate protein bars. So, I guess I'm craving sweets?!

Any Aversions?  Eggs and fish still don't sound great.  I did eat a grilled chicken sandwich from CookOut this weekend! 

Gender?  Just about three weeks till we know for sure!

Symptoms?  Well, my bras are getting a little snug.  Is that a symptom?  :-)

Best Moment this Week?  I had a few people talk to my belly this week, which was both kind of weird and kind of fun.  :-)

Looking Forward To...  This weekend, we're turning the downstairs living room into a guest room because the guest room is going to become the nursery.  I'm not necessarily looking forward to the construction mess, but I am excited about getting one step closer to really being able to get started on getting things organized around here!

Just Because

My hubby loves me.  :-)

Celebrating Claire and Will

This weekend, we went up to Henderdon, NC to celebrate the upcoming wedding of our good friends Claire and Will.  We had a wonderful time and are so looking forward to the wedding in June!  This was my first little outing, to a cocktail party no less, where I was unable to partake in the wine drinking festivities.  Oddly enough, the hardest part wasn't being around a bunch of people who could enjoy their beverages but staying up until 11:30!  Whew!  :-)


Thursday, March 8, 2012

Bad Day...

So, yesterday was not awesome.  Let me start by saying that everything is fine and I feel good today...but yesterday, that was a whole different story!

The day started out fine other than being a little sleepy from our weekend trip and I also woke up with a little bit of heartburn.  Nothing major.  The morning flew by, we ate lunch, and then around 2:00 I started to feel not so hot.  It started with some belly cramping.  Nothing too terrible and I honestly just thought maybe my lunch wasn't agreeing with me.  Then, I almost felt a little like I was going to faint.  I got super hot and a little jittery.  I had one of the nurses check my blood pressure and glucose which were both normal.  I ran through some other possibilities in my head...was I hungry?  Had I drinken enough water?  I decided to call it a day and headed home from work a little early.  The ride home was a little rough because my cramps had gotten a little worse since they'd first started.  I got home, got straight into bed, and called the doctor (mostly because Barrett really wanted me to...I'm a little stubborn and wanted to just tough it out a while longer).  I went through all the symptoms with the on call nurse at the office.  To me, it seemed like maybe it was really terrible gas or something, but I was concerned beause the cramps were so low in my belly...way down in my pelvis.  The nurse checked with the doctor on call and he said to just keep my feet up and drink lots of water.  He said that if the cramps got worse or if I started to have any bleeding to go into the emergency room.  Of course, my head immediately went to the worst possible outcome and I got pretty scared.  I don't know that I've ever had belly cramps that bad.  They were pretty consistent for about 7 hours, not really coming and going like a contaction, just steady pain. 

Anywho...I feel fine today.  I stayed home from work because I was pretty tired (didn't get great sleep) and just wanted to take it easy for another day.  All I know is that this little peanut better not give me anymore scares like that!  What a day!  Ugh.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Week 14 ~ Second Trimester!

Dear Baby Brooks,

You are 14 weeks old now! You are just about the size of a lemon at 3 1/2 inches and weigh about 1.5 ounces.  You are starting to do lots of new things - squint, frown, grimace, pee, and maybe even suck your thumb!  You can grasp with your tiny little hands and your liver and spleen are kicking into high gear making bile and red blood cells.  Here are the little details of the week...

How Far Along?  Fourteen Weeks...182 days to go!  HELLO SECOND TRIMESTER!

Weight Gain?  According to Friday's doctor's appointment, I'm officially up one pound.

Sleep?  Sleep is great.  I definitely feel rested in the morning when I wake up and my dreams are so vivid!

Miss Anything?  I have really been wanting a turkey sub from Jersey Mike's lately and it would have been nice to enjoy a glass of wine by the fire this weekend in the mountains!  But, nothing I can't live without!

Movement?  Nada.

Food Cravings?  Today I got a pretty serious taste for a milkshake!  That definitely counts as a calcium serving!! 

Any Aversions?  Still don't want eggs or grilled chicken.  I think I'm going to try to brave some fish this week.

Gender?  We'll know for sure in a month!

Symptoms?  Well, this week I gagged myself with my toothbrush.  Good times.  Barrett woke up and said he though morning sickness was supposed to be over now!  I reassured him that I didn't think it was technically morning sickness because I really felt fine...I just brushed my teeth a little too good!

Best Moment this Week?  We finally got to tell people about you!!  Whew!  That was such a hard secret to keep!  We told our bosses on Monday, send out an email to close friends and family that night, and then on Tuesday we made it Facebook official.  It feels so great to finally be able to say it out loud!!  Everyone was pretty impressed that we'd been so good about keeping it under wraps for so long!  We also got to hear your sweet little heartbeat again and getting the news that so far you look very healthy was amazing!  We had a wonderful little weekend getaway and feel refreshed and ready for the week ahead!

Looking Forward To...  Really getting into the second trimester!  Everyone says that this is when I'll feel the best so I'm looking forward to getting some things done around here!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Anniversary Weekend Getaway

This weekend, Barrett and I had a nice little weekend getaway.  Someone I know from the hospital (a very nice, thoughtful someone) has a house in Brevard, NC.  They graciously loaned it to us for a weekend treat.  Bonus - Buddy got to come along too!  It was so nice to get away for a couple of days and just relax.  We were pretty much off the grid, with zero cell service, so we really got to enjoy each other's company.  Friday night we enjoyed dinner at this great little Italian place called Marco Trattoria.  It's set up in an old house and was very quaint and cozy.  We had an amazing dinner and then headed back up the mountain to the house.  It stormed like crazy on Friday night!  We slept like rocks though and were ready to take on the day on Saturday.  The morning started off kind of cloudy and dreary, but by mid-morning there were little peaks of sunshine coming through the clouds!  We took Buddy on a nice walk by the lake and then headed out to do a little hiking (very mild, easy hiking!) and see some of the famous waterfalls of Transylvania County!  After our outing, we spent the afternoon playing Gin and taking naps...well, Buddy and I took naps.  :-)  We then went out for another great dinner at Falls Landing.  We took dessert to go and cuddled up with Buddy by a fire.  We really had a lovely weekend.  It is so nice when we get to just enjoy each other's company with very little distraction.  We're looking forward to having another weekend getaway soon!  Here are a few pics from the weekend...

View from the deck at the house with Lake Atagahi below.

Someone wanted to snuggle.

Stroll around the lake.

Connestee Falls

Little River

Hooker Falls

Buddy exploring the river.



First Trimester Screen Results Appointment

On Friday, March 2 (can you believe it's March by the way?) we had our follow up appointment to the First Trimester Screen.  The results all came back great with a 1 in greater than 10, 000 chance (that's the lowest they report) of having Down Syndrome, Trisomy 21, Trisomy 18, and some other significant fetal abnormalities.  Yay! 

We got to hear baby's heartbeat again...holding strong and steady at 161 BPM.  Barrett sprung to action and snapped a little video that captures that sweet, sweet sound.  (Side note - don't mind my pasty white, winter belly in the video!)



We scheduled our next two appointments also.  The next one is on March 16 and it will be for my blood work for multiple marker screening.  It will again screen for some of the Trisomies but will mainly be looking for any neural tube defects such as Spina Bifida.  I think Barrett's going to skip this appointment...no sense in him leaving work for 10 minutes of blood work!  The next appointment will be on April 4...and this will definitely not be one to miss...because it's when we'll find out if Baby Brooks is definitely a boy or a girl!  That ultrasound will also check for major organ development (heart, kidneys, lungs, etc.)

Can't wait!  :-)