26 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 Weeks

Size of baby: Little one is around 1 3/4 pounds and 14inches head to heel, about the size (length) of a hothouse cucumber.  

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained about 18 pounds.

Maternity Clothes:  I am loving my maternity pants and my tops are a mix of both. It's been so warm I am realizing I am in need of some more capris and probably a couple of pairs of shorts.  I did just put away all of my "normal" winter and spring/summer clothes.  I hope to get a few more dresses too.

Gender:  It's a girl!  Mary Isabelle (see this post about her name)

Movement: Now that her little bones and muscles are more developed, she is quite the kicker!  I'm sure she is punching some, too.  I can feel a lot of her movements on the outside now and I can see my belly move from some of her stronger kicks.  She is rolling all over the place, too.  I'm not ready to be much bigger yet but I am ready for her to have less room!

Sleep: Both of my hips are sore when I sleep on either side for more than a few hours.  I have found a new way to prop/tilt myself on my pillows so I am tricking myself into thinking I am sleeping on my back a bit even though I am tilted to the left.  I am sleeping much better that way and I hope I can do this for awhile.  

What I miss:  Sleeping on my back.  I cannot wait to lay flat again!

Cravings:  I am still loving fresh fruit right now- apples, pears, oranges, bananas, melon, and cucumbers.  Ice cream and frozen yogurt have sounded good too since it's almost like summer outside.

Symptoms:  My heartburn is still there.  I've still been able to cut back on the zantac.  I have had a few random Braxton Hicks and some swelling in my feet that lasted a couple of days but that's about it.    

what's in a name?

we have officially chosen our sweet daughter's name.  so, without further hesitation, her name is:

mary isabelle

i have always been interested in name meanings.  in Hebrew, mary means "bitter" but mary obviously was also the mother of God.  isabelle is also Hebrew and means "My God is a vow."  

our mary isabelle is named after two of her great-grandmothers.  mary is after mamaw conkin (jay's dad's mother) and i find it is a great way to honor both of their memories.  isabelle is my mom's mother's middle name (she was martha isabelle).  she died at the age of 37 from breast cancer.  i love that we can honor both of these sweet women.

but how did we actually choose her name?  funny story... i had a list of 6 different combinations of about 4 names and gave them to jay.  he marked out three of them and gave me the list back after analyzing it a little and asked me to number them in order of favorite choice to my least favorite choice.  he then put the numbers in a hat and i picked one out.  i drew #2 first and jay decided he really didn't like it that much.  so then i shuffled the numbers around and he drew out #1- which was mary isabelle.  we have thought about it for a little over a week and have never thought about changing it.  we will probably just call her mary but i may try calling her both names.  we'll just have to wait and meet her and see what fits best!

25 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 25 Weeks; only 15 weeks left or 105 days!

Size of baby: Little one is around 1 1/2 pounds and 13 1/2 inches head to heel, about the size of a papaya.  

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained about 18 pounds.

Maternity Clothes:  I am loving my maternity pants and my tops are a mix of both. It's been so warm I am realizing I am in need of some more capris and probably a couple of pairs of shorts.  I did just put away all of my "normal" winter and spring/summer clothes.

Gender:  It's a girl!  Stay tuned- I hope to announce her name soon!

Movement: Now that her little bones and muscles are more developed, she is quite the kicker!  I'm sure she is punching some, too.  I can feel a lot of her movements on the outside now and I can see my belly move from some of her stronger kicks.  She can be a busy girl!

Sleep: Both of my hips are sore when I sleep on either side for more than a few hours.  I've not been resting as well this last week either, which doesn't seem to be related to the time change.  

What I miss:  Sleeping on my back.  I cannot wait to lay flat again!

Cravings:  I am still loving fresh fruit right now- apples, pears, oranges, bananas, melon, and cucumbers.  Ice cream and frozen yogurt have sounded good too since it's almost like summer outside.

Symptoms: The "rhinitis of pregnancy" (stuffy nose) is a little better.  My heartburn is a little better, too.  I've been able to cut back on the zantac this week.  Yay!  


Bonus pictures!

all the girls together

sweet sisters!

bears, blankets, and the Biltmore

this post is a bit of a hodge podge of items but that is how this last week has been.  this has been week 2 of spring break and it's been filled with a little bit of everything- some cleaning and purging (aka nesting), a trip to the Biltmore, and finishing some things for baby girl and finding some things for baby girl.  i even did a little work this morning.

we visited the Biltmore on wednesday of this week.  since it is still the "off season" for Biltmore, we were able to get discount tickets and we used jay's mission hospital discount.  they have the audio headsets free until the end of the month, so aside from our lunch, we got almost a 2 for 1 deal on tickets and our visit.  we have been watching Downton Abbey on masterpiece classics (on PBS) and wanted to learn a little bit more about the history of the Biltmore house now that we've seen DA because we can picture the working nature of the home a little bit better.  it was a beautiful day.  the only thing that would have been better would have been if the gardens were in bloom.  i took a few pictures after we had been through the house and eaten our lunch.

the windows of the grand staircase 

you can see little bits of color... 

one end of the house

i have also been cleaning up our storage area in the apartment (this is in our large laundry room) and moving things around to put them away, purge things, and take stuff to our newer and larger off-site storage unit. i put up all of my winter clothes and spring and summer clothes and am working on cleaning out baby girl's closet and room and getting our office ready to be rearranged into an office/guest room.

after going through some of the boxes, i found a few things that our baby girl can use.  one of them is my first teddy bear.  i have a picture of me with my dad (somewhere) on my first Christmas when i got the bear and the bear is still in pretty good shape- "gently loved."  so the bear got a "bath" and some stitches to one of his armpits and now he's ready to go!

he needs a name... maybe rufus?  what else is sweet for a teddy bear?

i also finished (finally) knitting her blanket and i also found a couple of baby hats i made awhile ago that she may be able to wear.  

 a close up for detail

 seed stitch border with garter stitch in the middle (so it is reversible)

so we have a few things accumulated for our baby girl.  she has another blanket that was crocheted by a former coworker/friend of mine from williamson medical center and a blanket i bought on clearance awhile back and she received a little sweatshirt and some jeans she can wear next year!  i've also acquired a "my brest friend" nursing pillow and a couple of slip covers from one of the mamas here at school with a boppy on the way.  we have our first baby showers in tn in a couple of weeks.  i can't wait to see what we are blessed with besides the love of our family and friends!  

24 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 Weeks- our sweet daughter is now considered "viable" if she were to be born at any point between now and her due date.  I'm hoping she'll cook until she's "term."

Size of baby: Little one is around 1.4 pounds and 11.8 inches head to heel, about the size of an ear of corn.  Mmm... fresh corn on the cob- I'm ready for summer!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained about 18 pounds.

Maternity Clothes:  I am loving my maternity pants and my tops are a mix of both.  I just got a few new dresses that are great too and a few hand-me-downs from a friend.

Gender:  It's a girl!  We're still working on her name...

Movement: Now that her little bones and muscles are more developed, she is quite the kicker!  I'm sure she is punching some, too.  I can feel a lot of her movements on the outside now and I can see my belly move from some of her stronger kicks.  She can be a busy girl!

Sleep: I am more used to sleeping on my side now and still get up usually once a night.  My joints are loosening up a bit and are now a little sore, especially after staying in one position for too long.

What I miss:  Sleeping on my back.  

Cravings:  I am still loving fresh fruit right now- apples, pears, oranges, bananas, melon, and cucumbers.  I still love Mexican food and now that baby girl is developing taste buds, I hope she learns to like spicy Mexican food, too.  

Symptoms: The "rhinitis of pregnancy" (stuffy nose) is a little better.  My heartburn is a little better, too.  I've been able to cut back on the zantac this week.  Yay!  

baby girl's room

our sweet girl's room is by no means even close to being finished.  it isn't even started yet!  i have plans over the next two weeks (spring break!) to rearrange our office and guest room and get extra stuff either hauled to the dumpster, goodwill, or storage.  i hope i am as successful as i want to be!

anyway, i thought i would share what we have planned for her room.  i found bedding that i liked well before we knew that she was in fact a she.  however, the pink version of the same bedding looked like someone dumped pepto bismol and mylicon all over the bedding.  and i like pink- but i don't love it.  and this pink bedding would have dominated the entire room.  so i decided on the blue and green version instead.  those are my two favorite colors.  the walls are green (and not something we can easily change due to paint/color restrictions on campus).  so instead of a bright bubble gum pink room, we'll have a calm and serene room with just a touch of whimsy, thanks to the elephants.  mom and dad bought the bedding for us and have it at their house.  even better- it was on clearance!

she'll have the printed sheet, dust ruffle, minky plush blanket, bumper pads, and changing pad cover.  i have a couple of pictures mom sent of the actual set.  the above picture is from the ad.

here is a picture of cotton and barley in her room from last summer.  you can see what color the walls are...

okay.  two pictures of our sweet furry girls.  thanks to pinterest (see this post about pinterest and how i love it) i found some great wall art for the nursery on an etsy site.  i haven't ordered them yet, but i have plans to have the following three framed on the long wall over her crib.

i think these are so sweet and would match her bedding beautifully.  and speaking of her bed, we have this crib picked out for her.  we don't have a ton of wall space thanks to the big windows and radiator and another wall with a closet and bathroom door and then the third wall and its 4 foot door.  (yes, we have four foot wide doors to some rooms.)  so i think the crib/changer combo is a great choice and then the shelving unit is from target and you can put the little pop up cube "drawers" in it.  it'll be great for when she's small.

so there you have it.  a sneak peek at all the items for baby girl's room.  i promise to post pictures as things come together... that may be awhile just yet.  :)

23 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of baby: Little one is around 1.1 pounds and 11.4 inches head to heel, about the size of an eggplant.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 9 pounds (I'm sure this has changed- I go to the doctor next week so we'll see then...)

Maternity Clothes:  I am loving my maternity pants and my tops are a mix of both.  I just got a few new dresses that are great too and a few hand-me-downs from a friend.

Gender:  It's a girl!

Movement: Now that her little bones and muscles are more developed, she is quite the kicker!  I'm sure she is punching some, too.  I can feel a lot of her movements on the outside now and today I actually saw my belly move from a strong kick.  

Sleep: I am more used to sleeping on my side now and still get up usually once a night.  My joints are loosening up a bit and are now a little sore, especially after staying in one position for too long.

What I miss:  Sleeping on my back.  I also miss the ability to order a margarita or have a glass of wine on a whim.

Cravings: Milk- those of you who know me know I am not a milk drinker!  I am still loving fresh fruit right now- apples, pears, oranges, bananas, and melon.

Symptoms: The "rhinitis of pregnancy" (stuffy nose) is a little better.  Heartburn is my major symptom right now but zantac twice a day is helping that.  She better have a headful of hair for as bad as it's been!