25 Weeks

Baby and I have reached week 25!

Last night (Dec. 11th) was the first night that he's been so strong and harsh with his movements to wake me up... I thought he was going to crawl right out of me! He kept me up for about an hour in amazement of how much he was moving around.  Though I was so tiered today because of it. I took a three hour nap and I'm thinking of going to bed early too.

Not only is baby Dexter getting stronger, he is now about thirteen and a half inches long, and weights about one and a half pounds. He is also getting more baby fat and practicing breathing, swallowing, crying, out-of-the-womb activities.

One of the mom's in one of my mom's groups had an emergency c-section this week, her and baby are doing good.  It's amazing that we've made it to viability and to see what my boy looks like at this point.

I've been so wrapped up in baby and the holidays this month.  Though, thinking of the future I've tried to start putting together a baby shower. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun! I'm working on a trivia game and some other games we can play over the internet together.  I won't have a chance to really think about it or put it together completely until after the holidays.

Tomorrow there are some local festivities going on - Snow on Tarpon Ave. We're looking forward to checking it out. Though I have a feeling that it would be so much more fun with our son on the out side of me, being as most of these things are geared toward kids. Still, it will be a lot of fun being around all the holiday joy!

South Carolina

Dear Baby,

We're at week 24!!! This pregnancy with you has been going by so fast looking back and thinking I was so excited to reach the half way mark at 20 weeks. It's also been so slow at times with the anticipation of meeting you boiling up and causing butterflies in my tummy. I suppose it's like we've climbed a mountain to the half way point and now that we've reached the summit going down is going to go by so much faster!

The last couple of weeks have really flown by! We went to the Dr.'s for a check-up, I got to hear your heart beat loud & strong and we're both healthy, right where we should be. Then you had your first taste of Thanksgiving. Your first holidays in existence is in my womb, your dad and I are really looking forward to spending the holidays with you! You're going to bring so much more joy and excitement to events than we can experience now as 'boring' adults. We went to your grandparent's place and visited with your great grandparents too. Just a small gathering with your father's side of the family, it was fun!

Photo by Timothy Capp

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to South Carolina to document your daddy's high school friend proposing!  This has been your second road trip up the east coast in my womb, the first being a North Carolina trip for a wedding your daddy photographed.  This trip was short and only lasted a couple of days - but it was so much fun!  We got to experience new restaurants. (Cookout is an awesome inexpensive fast food place - we got two burgers, two sides and a shake for just twelve dollars & it tasted great!) We went to a restaurant we found last time we were up here & just had to get some of their signature berry biscuits (Bojangles.)

Photo by Timothy Capp

We got to the meeting place where the proposal was planed to occur a bit early so we had time to look around and play, since it was at the beach! Your dad pointed out that this was my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean. I collected some shells of course and your dad got some fun pictures.  We were right outside the hotel that your dad's friend was staying in with his sweetheart.  It was a big beautiful beach themed hotel, there were two weddings there that day as well. The proposal was supposed to take place under the pier, but they got really nervous and he ended up proposing on the balcony. We convinced them to get some really sweet photos before we headed out though.

Photo by Timothy Capp

The day after we got back from South Carolina your dad had a meeting to sell a camera and close to where we were meeting there was a build-a-bear shop! Since we've decided on your first name, we stopped in to make you a bear and leave a message for you - it was your dad's idea.  It was so hard deciding which bear to get you... there was a cute monkey, an alligator that is special for Florida shops only, there were different colored bears, and a puppy that we liked.  We wanted to get you the perfect one that would last you a while.  After we chose the perfect one we left you a message that we put in it's paw & stuffed the bear. We put two hearts in it, one filled with love from dad and one filled with love from mom - we sealed the love in with a kiss before we placed them in your bear.

Photo by Timothy Capp

We are so excited to meet you!  I feel you move more often now. Sometimes it's just small movements and other times it's big kicks!  I think I watched you hiccup today, you were making my whole belly jump in little rhythmic jumps! I've seen you kick and push my belly skin too. I was reading that your skin is growing faster than your fat cells at this point. So you're a wrinkly skinny little one right now about the size of a standard letter, but you weigh just over one and a half pounds by now. You may also have some hair growing on your tiny little head, though it doesn't have any color yet.

You're sucking up all my energy too.  I've been so sleepy and achy.  I took a nap for the first time since your first trimester in my womb yesterday. You are growing so much that my belly is cramping and stretching to make room for your last four months in there. Four months!  I'm so excited to meet you (and yet so scared of what I will go through to do so.)

I'm happy we've decided on a name for you! Now instead of calling you baby when I talk to you at various points of the day, I can call you by your name: Dexter.  We just have to figure out your middle name now...

Mmm...

The holiday season is also baking season!  I can't wait to make some sugar cookies with my boy!  The holidays are going to get a whole lot more exciting having a kid around!!!

So far this season I've tried to make pumpkin bread (which sadly didn't turn out like I wanted.) I made cream cheese pumpkin muffins - those turned out a little gooey for me, but still so good warmed up!

Hubby's been snacking on them

Today I'm trying some sweet potato chips. These are supposedly loaded with vitamins and nutrients that pregnant women need. (Hopefully they taste good, they're in the oven right now.) Super simple to make, same way I make my favorite potato-y fries: Chop 'em up, add a little oil and spices, toss, spread out on a baking sheet, and cook!

After tossing these ones didn't fit on my baking sheet

All spread out, about to go in the oven!

Hmm... I just checked on them and some of them got burnt, and they shrunk!  (My potato-y fries don't do that so much.)

The thinner ones got singed 

.............................................................
mmm
Though some of them got burnt (and I tend to like things a little under cooked) They turned out pretty good!  I feel like there should be some sort of sweet dip to go with them, but it's not needed.  Some future perfecting is needed!

I think I will try making theses again, provided I have the sweet potato for it!  Hubby doesn't like sweet potatoes so this will be my very own snack that I won't have to share (until the little one decides he wants some!)

Week - 22 - Twenty-two

Oh my gosh. I feel big. None of my regular clothes fit me any more.  I was down to one dress and my boobs out grew it. So today I dragged hubby out to get me a new wardrobe. We found a great deal at a consignment shop: all the clothes were sixty percent off and they were all marked under five dollars to start with!  I got some comfortable pants and cute tops. The store was packed with toys and baby gear, which we still don't have any of.  I wanted to get a lot of it.  Baby clothes are so cute!!! We also found a boa and sparkly hat for our photo booth. The lady took sixty percent off the whole stack! Everything rang up for about sixty dollars after the sale was applied I paid twenty-five. Oh yeah!

Then we headed over to a thrift store next door and spent just over twenty dollars there too. I found some holiday cards for this year, I got some stickers and a much needed cheese grater. I found a couple of formal dresses - the main reason for our adventure. I also got a large teddy bear for my boy ... and to use with newborn shoots. Hubby found a ten dollar super Nintendo. It came in a flavored rum box with a couple of games, the controllers, instruction books for the games and three others, a couple of "heavy duty" timers, an instruction manual for a cassette recorder, and a few other random things. He was very excited to find it. I guess he never owned the system before.

I was very pleased with our finds today!

Baby isn't growing in any interesting ways now.  Just bulking up for when the time comes to be apart of this world out side of the womb. He's getting stronger too.  I'm feeling kicks more often and stronger. According to babycenter.com his iris' have yet to develop pigment - that's interesting.  He is about eleven inches long and weighs almost a pound.  He's about the size of a spaghetti squash! (Perfect for the holidays!)

21 Weeks

My pregnancy is old enough to drink! Laugh out loud, yes, I'm just joking!

Baby is about the size of a carrot this week, about ten and a half inches from head to toe.  He can taste the amniotic fluid around him and is practicing swallowing and other out-of-the-womb necessities. The amniotic fluid is flavored by the food I'm eating (according to babycenter.com) so I should start eating things that I want him to like: carrots, salad, healthy things!

My belly feels tighter, I'm having cramp like pains in my lower abdomen and up my sides.

I'm so sleepy, I slept for almost fourteen hours last night - minus the tossing and turning and being woken up by hubby coming to bed - when I woke up it felt like I got a really crappy nap in, not a full night's rest.

At the same time, I have little bursts of energy! I can clean and play with hubby, I feel so accomplished and I get so much done. ... Until the burst is gone.

I still get dizzy from time to time.  After I've been standing for a few hours especially.  I've also noticed that my body is not circulating blood as efficiently as it's been in the past.

Also, I'm bitchy. Not even grumpy just flat out bitchy - I have a problem with everything and it's becoming harder to please me. The last wedding we were working I kept checking in with hubby to ask: "Is it okay to be mad about this, or am I over reacting?"

It's awesome being able to feel our little man moving around in there.  A sign that I'm not just getting fat, but that I actually truly do have a little someone in there.

Names are "fun" to come up with. Actually it's the middle name we're having issues with. Hubby loves a name I'm not to keen on, and I don't like a whole lot of boy's names. So we weed out the ones hubby doesn't like from the ones I'm okay with and our list is empty.

We don't have anything ready for baby when he gets here!  No car seat, no crib or bassinet, no bouncer, no diapers, no clothes, no toys, nothing! Well, we have a package of baby wipes... that's it!  I'm not even sure where we're going to put the stuff once we start collecting it!? I went though a little bit of nesting and cleaned most of our condo... but then daddy got all his toys out, and daddy hasn't learned to put things away yet.  So the place is... trashed. The mess could also be due to the fact that we've had a crazy busy week and haven't been home with the energy to do anything for a while.  Three weddings in eight days - the weather has gotten cooler and wedding season has picked up!

Kick ... kick!

First real "that's-my-baby" kick happened on November 6th, in Orlando, Florida, at 20 weeks 4 days pregnant, while a bride was getting her make-up all done up and Daddy was working.

I stole the spot light for a bit while I teared up and all six girls in the room swooned over the moment with me. A few camera phone shots were taken and of course hubby took a few as well.

The next day the best-daddy-to-be-ever laid his head on my belly and got about six kicks to the face!  Our little man is really moving around now, begging for more room.

20 Weeks

Hello 20 weeks!  It's nice to meet you.  You mean I'm half way through pregnancy!  Approximately 20 weeks in and 20 weeks to go!

To celebrate Halloween this year we went to the dr.'s!  They did an anatomic ultra sound to make sure baby was growing healthy and on schedule.

We also found out baby's gender:

We're going to have a bouncing baby boy!!!  (Yes, he's mooning us in the picture, lol)

So today I had some fun playing around with different ideas of gender reveal:

Honestly, I didn't like anything I came up with for what I wanted to do with the picture....  but the ones with my first little boy came out cute!