29 Weeks & Maternity Pics

Wow.. I can't believe that I have 11 weeks to go to meet little Elijah!! I'm SO excited and I know that these next 11 weeks will go by fairly quickly with all the holidays and events going on from now until February 7th.

I now get to start going to see Dr. Aron every other week, This week, the baby is about 2.5 pounds and 15 inches long, he's getting BIG and I can feel it. I feel him in my ribs every now and then and he likes to wake me up around 5:30/6am every morning! Thus, I've been getting a lot done around my house... actually I've nearly run out of things to do! Nesting is present in my life, and pretty much has been this whole pregnancy.

This past weekend, I got some Maternity Pictures taken by Mandi (Thanks again!! They came out AMAZING!) Here are some of them:

26 Weeks

26 weeks and 1 day to be exact.. 14 more to go! Now I've almost hit the third trimester.. and the beginning of the holiday season. YAY! Bring on the yummy food!!!!!!

Sailing into Week 26

Wow.. this Second Trimester sure is taking it's dear-ol'-time (to me at least) I'll be 26 weeks on Monday.. almost time for my Glucose Test - FUN! It is hard to believe that after my next check-up appointment at 28 weeks, I'll be going for check-ups every two weeks already! Maybe time will move a little faster by then ;)

We are doing good.. I can feel Elijah moving around a LOT more now, its really cool.. and sometimes it tickles LOL. Yesterday it felt like he was right under my ribs and I'm hoping he gets OUT OF THERE because its driving me crazzy! My back has been really starting to hurt lately and I'm finding it harder to get up from sitting or laying down. Oh and the acne that I hoped would go away by now.. is still here and I am hating it, I can't seem to get rid of it. I've never had acne like this before and its a really pain in the behind!

I've been a busy bee, always finding something to do, a project to work on and am constantly making lists of things I need to do before he makes his grand arrival, there is just so much to do. It doesn't help that I'm the kind of person that is GO GO GO, lets get this done right now, not wanting to waste any time or put anything off.

This being said... one of the fun projects I've been working on Elijah's room :) Which I have been enjoying so very much and I can't wait to keep adding things to it - especially him <3>

Here's some pictures of his room so far:

I just love this Nautical theme!! Its perfect, especially since my family is such big fans of boating, being on the water and soaking up the sun <3>

22 Weeks: Belly Shot

I finally got "ready" for work this morning and did my hair/makeup and put on a decent outfit LOL My usual day consists of hair up, sweats and no make up.. and I wasn't about to put a picture like THAT up haha.

So here you go.. me and the belly at 22 weeks



How I'm feeling: good most days, with the occasional heart burn, but in my back - its really weird. I can't seem to get enough spicy food. I seem to have developed some acid reflux, which is not fun.

Sleeping has become quite a task, I feel like I'm 80 when I'm getting ready for bed. It takes me forever.. I get my PJs on, put some vicks vabor rub on, wash my face, brush my teeth, put on a nose breathe-right strip, get my humidifier on, lay my body pillow and pillow wedge on either side of me, have my fan on and blow my nose before I get to even attempt getting comfortable in bed. Then I'm like a fish out of water all night long, flip flopping around, then I have to pee. I miss the days when I ENJOYED getting ready to go to bed and sleeping. Sheesh!! Sorry, had to vent a tad there... I know its all worth it and my lack of enjoyment with sleeping is only going to get worse.

Thats all I can seem to remember for now.. "pregnancy brain" is in full affect, I seem to easily forget EVERYTHING. Until next time...

It's A Boy & Room Decor :)

We went to have the sonogram to determine the baby's sex and check out the anatomy on Sept. 24th... a day I've certainly be counting down to! Its a BOY (obviously you've figured that out from the title already lol) Everything looks great... he was sleeping the whole time with his hands over his face, so we didn't get a great profile picture, but we DID get a good picture of his "goods"



YAYYY to a healthy baby boy thats growing right on track! I think we have determined the name of this little boy too.. Elijah "Eli" Alexander. Elijah means "the Lord is my God" and Alexander means "man's defender, warrior" :) I've also been franticly picking out things for his room and registering for the baby shower as soon as we found out "it" was a "he".

Here's what I have for the room theme:



I have gotten some baby furniture for his room so far and will post pictures once its all put together!!

I'll try to feel "pretty" enough to post a belly picture here soon and update on how I've been feeling here at 22 weeks.. its hard to believe that this boy already weighs about 1lb!!

My Lovely Baby Bump

You win! After MUCH hesitation (on my part).. I'm giving you people what you want.. a picture of the baby belly, haha.

Here we are at 16weeks

Brandy put it perfectly: "Isn't it awkward, like you spend your whole life (starting as a teenager) trying NOT to call attention to your weight and your stomach, and then all of a sudden you get pregnant and its like THE TOPIC. It's hard to switch gears like that"

~AMEN to that.. I think that's why its been hard for me to take belly pictures thus far, but I'm switching gears and am ok with taking them now :) Enjoy!

Baby Benjamin

This past Sunday, one of my closest friends, Kellie, had her baby... Benjamin. So yesterday, my mom and I went to visit her at Calvert Hospital. He was born at 1:48am Sunday morning, weighing in at 9lb 4oz, 21in long. He is amazingly beautiful and perfect!!

Me & the little studmuffin

Daddy Benny & Baby Benny

Beautiful new mommy Kellie & precious baby Benny <3

He's just the cutest!

Congratulations Kellie & Benny!!! Little Benny's buddy/girlfriend will be here in February :)

15 weeks ~ Interesting Discoveries

Here we are, 25 weeks to go.. seems so far away!

Every Monday (as I grow into another week of pregnancy), I read about my pregnancy at that week and all the information is so fascinating! For instance: I've been having a stuffy nose for a few weeks now and I figured it was from the weather.. although I've never been congested from the weather before, but I didn't think anything else of it - Why would I? WELL, come to find out:

"Believe it or not, it's pretty common to have a runny or stuffed-up nose during pregnancy. About 20 to 30 percent of pregnant women have congestion without having allergies or a viral infection like the common cold. This condition even has a name: rhinitis of pregnancy. It can start as early as your second month and last until you have your baby or even a few weeks afterward.

Higher amounts of estrogen during pregnancy can contribute to swelling in the mucous membranes lining the nose and even cause you to make more mucus. What's more, the amount of blood in your body increases and your blood vessels expand during pregnancy, which can lead to swollen nasal membranes as well. Other hormones may also play a role."

Wow. I never would have thought that my stuffy nose was because I'm pregnant, but now it all clicks together.

Another interesting discovery I've found is my limbs falling asleep easily - come to find out.. this is due to pregnancy too. It's quite aggravating because I'll wake up several times through the night because my arm/shoulder has fallen asleep. While I'm sitting in the car or at work, my leg/legs will fall asleep, so I'm constantly on the move. Ahhhh! I'm trying to find something that helps but so far, no luck.

Last interesting thing this week, well as of yesterday, I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move!!! I was lying down, trying to take a nap and I felt this odd feeling in my abdomen.. something I'm SURE I've never felt before. It was amazing!!! Surely after that I couldn't take a nap because I was so excited and was waiting to feel another movement.. and I did a few hours later at bedtime :) I definitely look forward to more of this!

Thats all I have for now.. no pictures to post since my camera is dead. I'm putting it on the charger as we speak in hopes I will take pictures to post for next time ;)

Snow Crab Legs & Yoo-hoo's

Yes.. so here we are.. almost 15 weeks into my growing peanut and all I can think about is food and sleeping. My latest addictions that I just can't get out of my taste buds?!?! You've guessed it.. Yoohoo's, Snow Crab Legs.. and sweets of course. Something tells me that I need to get on a better craving track here otherwise I might be giving birth to a whale (I'd still love the baby whale of course, but I don't think that will be easy to recover from).

So, how on earth am I supposed to kick these bad cravings to the curb?!

AHhhhhhHhhh.

And here's a random picture of me & my brother, Jose at the Jack Johnson concert last month (better late than neverrrr) ;)

*Miss Food Junkie

Week 13: Last week of First Trimester!!

What's been going on in the past 5 weeks? Good question. My memory has been a little hazy lately, so I'm going to try to recap to the best of my abilities ;)

Luckily, I was fortunate not to have any morning sickness and am told that I am now in the clear! Wooohooo. Now.. there were a few instances where I got extremely nauseous, but never actually got sick. I'm no where near as tired/exhausted as I was and the constant gas I had has now passed (no pun intended haha). I have noticed I have a new BFF... the bathroom.. I'm waking up throughout the night to go potty and its already begun to aggravate me.. I know this is only the beginning so I'm trying to just get used to it.

I went to my Doctor last week and had gained 2 pounds.. when I feel like I've gained about 10. My clothes are fitting very snug and I've resorted to wearing elastic shorts/pants/kapris, since these are the only thing that really fits and is comfortable anymore. Everything seems to be going right on track though and I've had very smooth sailing so far... for this I'm very thankful. Most women I've spoken to have told me how miserable they were in their first and last trimester.. but so far I have no complaints.. just excited to feel the baby move for the first time and for my baby bump to LOOK like a baby bump instead of just looking fat lol.

Last week I also got a Ultrasound at American Radiology and some blood work done for a Nuchal Translucency Screening (testing to find if the fetus has Down Syndrome or other genetic disorders). My blood work has come back normal and I'm confident that the sonogram results will reveal the same thing. I didn't get this test done because I was worried that the baby would have something wrong with it, I got the test because it was an extra sonogram that my insurance would cover lol. I went alone this time around, Donald doesn't have much leave left for work, so its best to save it up for the future.. like when we can find out for sure what the gender is :-D

Although this was uncomfortable at first for me, only because I had to drink 24oz of water an hour beforehand and hold it and my bladder felt like it was going to explode.. This ultrasound was WAY cool, the baby actually looks like a little human now, not just a blob on the screen(like it did at 8 weeks). It was just moving all around in there too and very active, it was very surreal. The heartbeat was in a normal, healthy range of 153 and the size of the baby is also normal. The woman that did the ultrasound was very nice and pointed out everything to me and gave me some great pictures.

Planning ahead: I will only be getting 3 weeks paid off work for maternity leave, but my bosses (aka mom and dad) have been gracious enough to let me bring in the baby with me to work after the 3 weeks are up until whenever we feel its best to put them in a daycare. When my mother had me, she was out of work for 3 weeks then I was brought in to work with my mom and dad. This is a benefit of working for our family business and I'm very excited (so is my mom) to be able to have the little baby with me at work and taking care of them myself for as long as I can. We're so excited, we already bought a Pack and Play for work :) Now all we need is a rocker here and we'll be set!

Thats all for now.. I'm ending this long post with two pictures. When I'm comfortable with it, I'll take one of myself, but right now I'm not feeling being in pictures lol.

The little peanut, 12 weeks <3

It's Pooh.. we thought this was "gender neutral" ;)

*Miss Quite Simple

8 Weeks and Counting..

I had my first real OBGYN doctor's appointment yesterday and all went great! I had to switch doctors since mine only delivered at Southern Maryland Hospital and (since I live in La Plata), wanted to have the baby at Civista. SO, thanks to some great references from friends I switched to Dr. Barry Aron. I was scared about going to see a new doctor, but as soon as I walked in the door I was at ease. The waiting room was cozy and comfy, the staff was extremely friendly and Dr. Aron was so nice, informative, through and just made me feel so comfortable. They gave me a goodie bag full of prenatal samples and literature... now I'm so confused as which prenatals to take! For the past few weeks, I've been taking Prenatal Plus and a generic DHA supplement but now I'm wondering if I should switch to one of the new samples I've been given... decisions, decisions.

My mom and Donald went with me for our first sono to see the blob and the heartbeat :) Come to find out.. my due date is February 7th (ahem, for those of you who don't know.. this is my birthday).. what are the odds?! I just can't get over that.. out of 365 days, I get pregnant with a due date on my birthday, crazy. What a wonderful birthday present we get to look forward to!!!

My current symptoms haven't varied much from the last post, I'm tired frequently, sore, having some crazy and rememberable dreams, irritable, sometime nauseous but haven't gotten sick (yet), been going to the bathroom a lot more frequently, and I seem to be getting a headache behind one of my eyes everyday lately and its really annoying. I've also noticed that my pants/shorts are fitting a little snug, as if I'm "bloated", I thought this is a little early for this, but I'm hearing its normal. I sure hope so. I'm praying that I won't get any "morning sickness" since I've been okay here so far.

We have thought of names already ;) For a girl = Claudia Lynn. For a boy = Shane *something* lol, still undecided on the middle name there.

This past weekend we spend with my family at the beach house in Calvert County, here are just a few quick pictures:

Dylan, Nikki, Melissa, Rachel, Me, Grandma Claudia, Danielle and Sonia <3

Grandma with all her grandchildren :)

Umm YES, the big kid in the bucket to the right is my boyfriend. Haha

Before our Louisiana crab boil feast

*Miss Quite Simply... Complicated ;-)

Well.. Look What We Have Here

I've been slacking on blogging lately and intend to fix that.. starting NOW. To kickoff this, I have quite the announcement.

I found out last week that... well... I'm pregnant!!!! Shocker right?! I know. Looks like Donald and I are going to have a baby.. wow :) Yes, we're both excited, and so is his daughter, Kamrie. She has been praying for a baby sister, but we will see what He blesses us with. I'm just believing for a healthy, happy baby.

As of right now, I'm 6 weeks, with an approximate due date of February 11th, 2011. Some of you may think this is early to be making an announcement, but we can't contain the excitement and joy and wanted to share it with everyone. I've already been to the Doctor and gotten my blood-work done, so it is official <3>

A few changes in me that I've noticed is that I've been completely exhausted / tired lately, been kinda gassy, easily irritable and have a few sore spots (ahem - Mom's: you know what I'm talking about). Other than that, everything seems normal. No "morning sickness", heartburn or cravings.. yet.

I'm still a bit shocked myself and a little in disbelief, but I'm overwhelmingly happy. I'm so excited for this new journey of being something I've always wanted to be, a Mom.

*Miss Comlicated

Pleasant Surprises

My day sure started out as a doozy and I thought it was just going to be one of "those" days for sure. You know, we all have them.. when everything seems to just go wrong. Within my first two hours of being up for the day I: got toothpaste in my hair (had to rewash it), then got toothpaste on my shirt (had to change), spilt my coffee at work, knocked over all the cups, dropped the roll of paper towels and it unraveled over the dirty floor (that I then had to clean up), poked myself in the eye with my mascara (ouch..) and this was just the start of it. Yikes. Well GOOD Morning to you too, Ha - not. At least I was able to just laugh about it all instead of letting it ruin my day.

Thankfully, God answered my prayers shortly after this train-reck of a morning and the day turned right around for me.

Yesterday, April 21st, was Administrative Assistant Appreciation Day and it was forgotten by my boss (aka Dad), so today to make up for it, he took me and my co-worker Ally out to lunch at TGI Fridays. It was an AMAZING surprise and definitely made us feel very appreciated. We come back to work with a great attitude, and I have another surprise waiting for me....

My Grandma sent me flowers <3>

She is so sweet. I have been sick so she sent these to me to cheer me up, and they sure did help make my, once crappy day, a great one.

*Miss Quite Complicated

Easter Weekend

This past weekend was a blast.. Nothing's better that good food, good friends, GREAT weather and spending time with the ones you love. I had another packed weekend and actually remembered to take some pictures this time around.

Friday Donald and I met my sister Danielle and friend at Gilligan's for the first time this season for some king crabby legs, crab balls (or bites) and crab soup.. MmmmMMmm it was all SO good.

Saturday we woke up early, went watch Donald's daughter (Kamrie) play T-Ball, then went on a nature hike afterwards. We had such a good time, jumping over streams, catching fish and frogs, watching Donald be a monkey and climb trees, building a fire and cooking hot dogs for lunch :) We got back early afternoon to meet Angel and Billy and head to the DC Nationals v. Red Sox Game. Angel got four tickets from work and the seats were remarkable.. I've never sat so close at a game before, it was so cool!

Easter Sunday we went to Cobb Island church then over to visit with Donald's family before jumping back in the car and heading over to Calvert to spend the day with my family. Lots of amazing food.. I definitely ate too much. The afternoon was spent munching on more food, hiding easter eggs, playing croquet, fishing and eating some more.

All in all it was a very fun, action packed weekend, Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Angel & I

Billy & Angel

Me & Donald

Being Sillly.. Hahha

Angel, Me, Donald

~THANKS for the tickets Angel :)

*Miss Quite Simple <3

Housewarming Recap

OK, so I know its been a few weeks since my last post, and a lot has happened in that time. Getting into my house, getting everything situated and taken care of has been very time consuming and exhausting (not to mention trying to keep up with all the other events in life as well). Everything is not finished, and probably won't be for a long time, but I'm liking having such a rewarding project to occupy my time.

February 27th was the Housewarming Party date and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!!! Most of my close friends and family came out to see my first home and all that has been done. We ate lots of great food, enjoyed good drinks, and had a blast being with each other on this momentous day.

I want to thank everyone who came for sharing this very special milestone with me, thank you for all the wonderful housewarming gifts (I'm still working on my Thank You notes), and thank you for all your help. I couldn't have done it without ya'll and and so very blessed and thank God to have provided me with such an amazing group of people in my life.

Front door

Nice Decorating - Thanks Mom, Cathy & Danielle!

Me in the Bathroom - busy getting ready

Living Room

Kitchen

The beginnings of a great food table.. MmmmMmm

Spare Room #2 (aka former green room)

Spare Room #1 (aka former yellow room)

Donald & My Dad, busy screwing around - Ha.. get it?!

My Mama fixing curtains - shes so awesome ;-)

Some Presents:

Mom & Karen watching my goofy reactions to all the presents Haha

Grandma Claudia & My Dad - and awesome friends around the corner <3

My P.I.C. (partner in crime) - Donald :)

Me & My Beautiful Grandma

*Miss Quite Complicated