24 Weeks- A Cantaloupe

How far along? 24 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 14 lbs (I'll find out officially on Friday's appointment) 
Maternity clothes? Can't wear anything but maternity and sweatpants!  Even my tshirts ride up my belly! 
Stretch marks?Starting to look like it, yes

Can you see your toes?  Nope, they are gone. 

Sleep:  I have been sleeping really well! (Mostly because I am really sleep deprived due to working 2 jobs) As soon as my head hits the pillow, I am out.  I have been having horrible dreams though. 

Best moment this week:  Lying in bed last night and Matt and I watched the baby move inside my stomach.  You could see him either push his hand, foot, or head out and it sticks out of my stomach! 
Miss Anything? Running.  Round ligament pain is preventing me from going on any kind of run now :( 
Movement: I'm starting to get a little worried that there is too much movement!  Sometimes, its like hours straight of him moving and he won't stop! 

Still running?  One painful half mile at a time.... but today I had to stop during my run because the pain was so bad.  The pain continued through most of the evening (feels like a pulled muscle all through my lower abdomen. Ouch! 
Food cravings:  Spaghetti and chef boyardee
Anything making you queasy or sick: Gagged on spinach again last week 
Have you started to show yet: I'm excited that complete strangers are coming up and asking me when I'm due and women in line at the bathroom are offering me their spot in line, lol. 
Gender prediction: IT'S A BOY!!!!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In (but getting tiny!)
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: I would love to say I am happy....but I am so overwhelmed with teaching, parents, coaching, my XU class, this basement renovation, people causing drama, my impending graduation test on December 1st, my observation hours paperwork, the fact that the baby's room is not even close to being finished and I don't have a free moment to take care of it.  I just overwhelmed, exhausted and STRESSED. 
Weekly Wisdom: Fr. Dave said to me after mass on Wednesday, "Take care of yourself."  
So even if everyone wants to call me selfish, lazy, emotional- I'm saying no to the things I don't want to do (and sadly some of the things I do want to do); I'm concentrating on what needs to get done, and I'm putting my health first.  Besides, it's not really all about me- whatever's good for me is good for the baby! Looking forward to: Cross country being over so then I will gain another 20 hours onto my week to work on things, study for comps, finish all my final projects, catch up on grading, get ahead on lesson plans.... and take naps. 


Matt put the shelves and hangers up for baby clothes! 

It's beginning to look a lot like a BABY! 

And the cutest booties in the entire world, from Osh Kosh B'gosh!  

Happy Birthday Matt!

It's his last birthday without his son! :)
Next year, when we sing Happy Birthday, it won't be "happy birthday dear Matt", it will be, "happy birthday dear daddy!"

Happy 27th Matthew Lewis. I love you.

23 weeks- a grapefruit!

Sorry this is late. I took the photo at the start of the week, but then I forgot to update on here. oops!

The baby is the size of a grapefruit this week! A few exciting things that happened:
1. My super sweet neighbors gifted bins and bins of cute gently used baby boy clothing. I seriously have weeks of clothes all gifted to me! I cannot stress enough how much I love our neighborhood.
2. I'm feeling bigger and bigger every day, and keeping active is proving to be quite the challenge. As my weight gains, I'm more susceptible to shin and joint injuries while running. So that's been rough. I'm still keeping at it, but my pace is excruciating slow and I can't go far without round ligament pain.
3. On Monday night, I lay in bed feeling baby boy moving and moving. I watched my stomach and I could see him!! I called Matt in the room and had him watch my belly, and after much patience- he saw it move too! How cool!
4. Lastly, a super neat thing happened  Tuesday at school. I could feel the baby hiccuping! I thought at first it was a repetitious kick, but it was so much more odd! After researching and reading other mommy posts, I determined that it was baby hiccups! How sweet :)

Grapefruit baby (in size, not in length) 

Just a few of the ADORABLE outfits I was gifted from the neighbors. I love them! 

This past weekend was also the League Championship for Cross Country.  The senior girls always give away awards to the team.  Here is the hilarious award they made me.  How thoughtful, ladies! :-P

Gender Reveal Weekend!

Saturday the 6th was our big Gender Reveal Party!  We invited some of our family and closest friends to our house.  Just after 8:30, we served everyone cupcakes with BLUE icing inside.  When everyone bit in, the color of the baby was revealed!  We had so much fun, and we feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many loving people in our lives. Thank you to everyone who came and helped us celebrate our BABY BOY!!!!

Blue icing in the center! 

Alex and Jillian traveled all the way from Pittsburgh for the event! 

Shopping trip before the party- Uncle Alex found something! 

Guess board for all our guests.  This pic was taken earlier on, so we had close to 10 for each side.  It was pretty evenly split, but most people had guessed correctly- baby boy!

Dad in his pink!  He was sure it was a girl!  :)

Leftover cupcakes  :)

22 Weeks- A Papaya (or a Spaghetti Squash)

Q1-13 is the size of a Papaya this week!   (another source said a spaghetti squash, and since I couldn't find a papaya, the pic is with a squash )

 

How far along? 22 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs
Maternity clothes? all the time, yes
Stretch marks?Starting to look like it, yes

Can you see your toes?  If I stand up straight- no. If I lean over, yes. 

Sleep:  Sleeping really well now that I have made it habit to sleep on my side with the body pillow. 

Best moment this week:  Our families and friends coming over and getting to reveal the gender of our baby to everyone!    
Miss Anything? Real sushi and not just veggie rolls.  I really missed being able to drink wine at our party this past weekend. 
Movement: Yes all the time!  Some days HE is constantly moving! 

Still running?  Yes, but my already turtle-like pace has gotten even slower!  I'm just past a crawl now.  I'm also experiencing a little pain in my abdomen when I run, so I have been keeping it light. 
Food cravings:  5 Guys Burgers :)  and this one is odd- tonight I really wanted Ballreich's Potato Chips dipped in pizza sauce. 
Anything making you queasy or sick: bananas get my gag reflex
Have you started to show yet: I'm starting to get to that point where even if you don't know me, you can tell I have a baby bump
Gender prediction: IT'S A BOY!!!!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: I've been really up and down.  Some days I am really really mean and stressed out, others I am Miss Happy-Go-Lucky, yet others I am so weepy!  
Weekly Wisdom: I recieved so much wonderful advice from my mother and my mother-in-law when we went to Target this past weekend.  The two of them helped me put together the baby registry.  We learned a little about what we don't need, and what we do need.  Both mothers had different viewpoints of motherhood to offer, and I so appreciated their advice :) 
Looking forward to: Telling the gender to my students and the cross country team tomorrow !!!!  :) 

Classroom Fun!

Letting all my students cast their vote before I announce the gender to them next week!