17 weeks

Irish Burrito at 17 weeks

Baby's growth: size of an onion

Total weight gain: Not 100% sure probably a total of 5 -to 8 lbs

Movement: none I think.  It's hard to determine if my stomach is digesting or if it's actually the baby

Food Cravings: none.  The Halloween candy looks very appealing, so I eat it, but if I didn't see, I will probably not crave it.  I still crave more salty/sour foods than anything else.

Discomfort: stretching

Skin Changes: none

Bellybutton: looks a little bit more stretched out

Gender Prediction: it's a mixture of feelings, I still think it's a boy, our friends are 50/50, and Dan has yet to let me know what he thinks the baby will be, all he says is he wants it to be healthy :) we all do of course!

New this week: 

• Our hunt for a versatile furniture piece continues...
• We have decided to know the gender of the baby come November 19th, if the baby cooperates
• Starting to research cribs and car seats.  If any of you have suggestions, those are always welcome

Baby Love

Our little Irish Burrito is already very loved, not only by us, but by all of our family and friends who remind us to start telling the baby that everyone already loves him/her and that they keep him/her in their prayers so everything continues to go well, and that they can't wait to meet him/her.  We are truly so blessed to have such a supportive family/friends even when they are scattered all across the world.

Below are some cute little items that our family and friends have already bought/made for our little bundle of joy.

Let the planning begin...

A quick 411 on our status!  This past weekend Dan and I headed out looking for a furniture piece that we could turn into a functional multipurpose/changing table.  Dan as some of you know, loves to be a handy man and took some wood classes back in high school.  Not to brag about Dan (actually why not).... but he also finished my mom's basement which has gotten a lot of compliments.

All mom's and dad's ideally would like for everything to be PERFECT for when their new baby arrives.  From the nursery decor to the outfit that they are going to be bringing the baby home from the hospital.  I am sure all you parents would say, "babies don't need much when they are that little", and yes, we understand that and that's where "we", well specifically "me" needs to constantly come back to REALITY and process what is a WANT vs a NEED.

As a soon to be new mom with a planning mode brain, I would love to get everything I like, but let's face it, we don't have the space nor the money to spend on things that are not something we need.  So, during this mental process that I am constantly going thru, I started to think of ideas of how we can best get those WANTS without forking out too much money while still satisfying those NEEDS.

Us being new to this parent club, started to put our THINKING CAPS ON and began to focus on the items that we would purchase vs items that we can refinish and turn into functional nursery furniture pieces.  So, our first project is to find as mentioned above, a functional piece of furniture that we could use for several things, including a changing table.  I realize that I can change the baby on the bed/floor etc.. but I still need a place to store baby items so why not make it a multipurpose piece.  Below are some images of what I am envisioning this piece of furniture to resemble once completed.

Project#1 - Finding a piece of furniture that we could refinish and resembles something similar to the pieces above.

We made a few stops at different places to see what our options were, but we haven't found anything worth refinishing (YET).  We'll continue our hunt in the coming weeks.  If you know of a place that we should look into, please don't hesitate to let us know!  Suggestions are ALWAYS welcomed!

16 weeks

Thank you very much for all of the feedback and advice that I have received about this blog, I really appreciate it.  I know some of you have asked me to write something every day.  Let's face it, that is going to be tough to do.  Not because it's hard, but it's just time consuming, and we all know that we would love a few extra hours a day just to get everything we have on our TO DO list taken care of, but there are only 24hrs.  Therefore, I will try to update the blog 2 times a week to start with and see if I start getting in the "groove" of making it a habit (no promises).

The Hogie Bun at 16 weeks

Baby's growth: about the size of an avocado - measures 4 1/2 inches long & weights about 3 1/2 oz.

Total weight gain: 5. 7 lbs

Movement: none

Food Cravings: nothing specific.  If you know me, I LOVE CHEESE, so quesadillas with pepper jack cheese is something I can eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  For those in the USA, I know quesadillas are served more elaborate with chicken, steak etc... but in Mexico, a quesadilla is a simple corn or flour tortilla (I recommend corn) with cheese and that's it!

Discomfort: some round ligament stretching here and there

Skin Changes: none

Bellybutton: I think it looks a little wider and sort of stretched out to the sides, but again, this could just be me over analyzing my bellybutton and trying to see if anything has changed lately

Gender Prediction: I still lean more towards a boy than a girl, in part because I am having a hard time picturing a girl.

BUT let's face it every pregnant woman has a big curiosity as to what gender the baby will be.  YES, I AM ONE OF THEM! So, I have tried the following gender predictors thus far:

• Chinese Calendar with both, the day of delivery and conception date, and they both come out as our baby being a girl.

• Wedding Ring : This is an odd one, because I feel like it switches all the time from girl to boy. I've done this one tons of times!!! FYI.  However, my mom tried it this past weekend and when she did it, it was going in full motion, wide circles = girl, but when Dan did it, it was going full motion, side to side = boy.  When I do it on myself I feel like it switches from one to the other, starting with boy then to girl and vice versa.  Needless to say, it's fun to keep guessing but we all know it's just a wives tale.

• Drano : pending

New this week: 

• This past weekend I ended up getting a full blown cold.  We are talking full congestion, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, etc...  I felt like it came out of nowhere, Friday I was feeling great with lots of energy, around 7:30PM I started to feel stuffy and had an itchy throat, by dinner I was just feeling blah and congested and after that the weekend was pretty much taken over by this cold.  I would say it's a bit uncomfortable to not be able to take any medicine or supplement drops for my sore throat, but I managed.

• I took a trip down memory lane and thought of the things that my mom used to give/make me when I was sick (home remedy stuff).  

1. Homemade chicken broth soup with fresh cooked chicken & cubed potatoes, lime and fresh cilantro to top it off!  ONE OF THE BEST!
2. In addition to, a homemade limonada (lemonade made with limes: limeade) which I then heated up and drank it little by little which assisted with some of the congestion and sore throat! 

Overall, I've been feeling much better!  Work has been pretty understanding, but then again, my work hasn't been affected by my pregnancy.  My main coworkers have been pretty supportive and ask me how I am feeling, which makes me feel appreciated.  My other coworkers which I see in the lunch room everyday, but don't necessarily talk to as much (mostly because I don't work with them directly) are probably just thinking I am getting fat!

In fact, yesterday I saw two coworkers which I normally see and talk to at least once a day while they get their coffee.  As I was talking in the break room about pregnancy with another of my coworkers, one of them turned around and said "Wait, you are pregnant?!!??".  This makes me wonder how many of my other coworkers probably do think that I am just getting FAT!  Mind you that these two girls are super "earthy" if you know what I mean, so now that they both know, I feel like I am being judged on what I eat and drink every time they see me in the break room.

Happy Thirsty Thursday Everyone!

There is one thing I miss.... a nice cold beer while watching football!

15 weeks

The Hogie Bun at 15 weeks

Baby's growth: about the size of an apple - measures 4 inches long & weights about 2 2/12 oz.

Total weight gain: 5. 7 lbs

Movement: none

Food Cravings: salty & sour foods

Discomfort: some heartburn & headaches, as well as some ligament stretching

Skin Changes: some acne just here and there, nothing major

Bellybutton: no change

Gender Prediction: boy, for some reason I am having a hard time picturing a girl, but you never know what we are brewing!

New this week: 

• Baby's heartbeat: from 167 (10 weeks) to 147 (14 weeks)

Overall, I've really started to notice a bump throughout the day.  At first it was mostly just at night, but now it looks like it's there to stay.  My regular jeans are snug on the hips and pretty uncomfortable to wear.  I've tried the belly band and although it works while I'm standing I didn't find it very comfortable while sitting down (it kept rolling up).  Perhaps I need to wait a little longer until my bump gets bigger.  I've also tried the rubber-band, and it worked for a while but then it kept falling.

I did however, found a gem at Kohl's.  I decided to peek at their maternity options and found skinny maternity jeans in the clearance rack.  They were originally marked at $69.99, marked down to $19.99 but when I went to check out, they were a total of $6.00. Best maternity buy so far! Super comfortable and look great with boots! 

Our New Adventure

The Hogie Bun at 7 weeks

An early ultrasound was taken in order to determine 

if we were having twins due to my high HCG levels.   

Delivering the News

Dan (New Dad)

A quick background note, I had a hunch that I might be pregnant when things were not acting and arriving in the time they were supposed to.  It was then that I decided to consult Dr. Google and research my symptoms.  After a long night of sleep I decided to test out what I thought could be a possibility.  Sure enough, the test was strongly positive!

Dan had a very important meeting that morning and I decided not to tell him until later that afternoon, so that he can be focused during his meeting.  By this time, I was in shock to say the least.  Throughout the whole day I kept forgetting and then remembering what had happened that morning.  As the day went on, I met with the doctor and got confirmation and verification that everything was moving along and that I was 4 weeks pregnant.  

That afternoon, while Dan was playing softball, I went on a shopping "hunt" to find the best way to deliver the BIG NEWS to Dan.  I came up with a combination of golf references and some other baby items.  The video below is how I ended up delivering the news.

The golf references say: Tee Up, Hole in One, & Nice Shot!

Mom C.

This will be my mom's first grandchild.  In telling my mom, we decided to involve Tako, my mom's Goldendoodle.  I am an only child and I view Tako as my little doggy baby, therefore, we bought and put this cute bandana from Etsy that said "I'm Going to be a Big Brother e.t.a. 4.4.13" on Tako and had him deliver the BIG NEWS.

Mom & Dad H.

Although, Mom and Dad H. already have three beautiful grand-daughters, Mom H. insisted that we were lagging behind and wondered when Dan and I will get moving!  Since our wedding 3 years ago, Mom H. has been wanting pictures of our wedding.  For one reason or another, I kept forgetting and then lost the CD etc... We delivered the news by printing some images of our wedding and added a picture of our ultrasound in between them to deliver the news.