Turkey Day

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and give thanks for all of the blessings in our lives.  On Thanksgiving morning I went for a run, turned off my ipod (JayZ and Lil Wayne had to wait), and just took a few moments to thank God for all He has blessed me with over the past year.  In addition to life, faith, friends and health, I am thankful for my family.  I am truly blessed with an incredibly loving husband, completely devoted and selfless parents and in-laws, and extremely supportive and caring siblings.  Baby Peas will be adding to our family next spring, and I pray he/she knows how much our family already loves him/her.  He/she is such a blessing to us and we can't wait to hold baby in our arms in just a few short months.  I am also thankful that we will be learning our baby's gender in about 3 weeks so I can stop typing "him/her, he/she" or calling our baby an "it."  All things that have been added to my "I'm thankful for..." list. 

Thanksgiving Day was spent at my parents' house with my cousins and their spouses, aunts and uncles, siblings and nephew.  It was a wonderful day filled with joy, laughter, food...and more food.  We just got home from our Thanksgiving festivities with my in-laws and we had so much fun spending time with Mom and Dad Peaslee, Zach, Heather and Karoline.  Karoline is growing up so fast - it's hard to believe she will be three next month.  Where does the time go?

Bobby and Trey on Thanksgiving Day (Trey reaching for my phone)

Black Friday - haha, we promised we were not going to participate in the madness this year.  Until we saw the Babies R Us ads on Thanksgiving morning, and realized one of the nursery sets we've been eyeballing (crib, dresser/changing table, and chest of drawers) was 50% off.  We were the crazies out at 5:30am.  Surprisingly, we were in and out of Babies R Us in 15 minutes.  And since we were up, we decided to head to the mall, Home Depot, and Gander Mountain.  I'm not sure if it was because the stores we were interested in weren't as popular this year, or because most of them opened at midnight on Black Friday, but we didn't wait in a single line.  We lucked out!  (something else I should add to my list of things I'm thankful for...)

Well, here's Baby Peas at 18wks (aka 4.5 months, which some would say is the halfway point!)  woop woop!

oh baby.

Friday wasn't as telling as we'd hoped it would be.  We had our 16 week appointment (actually, closer to 17 weeks), but they were unable to do an ultrasound.  Which we figured would happen as there wasn't an ultrasound scheduled to begin with -  a girl can dream.  Baby's heart rate has dropped a little from our 12 week appointment to about 150 bpm.  Bobby and I agree that our baby's heart beat is the most incredible sound in the world.  I could sit and listen to it all day, but then I wouldn't get anything else done.  Ha!  In other interesting news, I was wearing my 4" Jessica Simpson patent leather pumps during our appointment (in my defense, I was on my way to work...I'm not typically that big of a diva).  Our doctor told me that she adored my pumps, but I should consider something a little flatter as I start to put on more weight.  Of course Bobby laughed out loud.  Our next doctor's appointment will be December 19th, and assuming our child cooperates, we should find out the gender!  Yay!  We have been shopping around for baby furniture and we've picked out some paint swatches for the nursery for both genders.  Can you tell we're a little anxious to find out if we're having a baby boy or baby girl :) ?

Paint swatches for the nursery

We're also very excited for the holiday week and looking forward to spending time with our families for Thanksgiving.  And let's be honest, baby and I are pretty pumped for some turkey and pumpkin pie.

17 weeks

Bobby took me shopping for maternity clothes this weekend.  Yep, that went about as well as one could expect.  Most of my pants won't button without a fight anymore (just as an aside:  I do own two pairs of Selena Gomez jeggings, which are incredibly comfortable and STRETCHY.  These have been a lifesaver!).  Our shopping trip started and ended at Target.  I tried on maternity pants and they were just so awkward.  I feel like women have enough to worry and stress over during pregnancy - can't someone design adorable, trendy maternity clothes?  Oh, make that adorable, trendy maternity clothes that don't cost a fortune.  Please...and thank you.  So after a brief meltdown where I became physically angry about the maternity pants not fitting (ahem...hormonal much?), I put all items back on the rack and just decided to purchase a couple pairs of dress pants the next size up.  So that's that.  Until next week when those don't fit either.

Almost halfway...almost.

So, I'm two weeks behind in posts; therefore, I'm going to consolidate Week 15 and Week 16.  We took the Week 15 picture, but after we took it I was entirely too sleepy to post, haha!  Lots of changes over the past couple of weeks for Baby Peas and I.  I feel as though my bump is visible to everyone now, not just Bobby and I.  I'm pretty selective in my clothes, and have been able to disguise my growing belly quite well...until now.  It still looks more I've indulged in far too many carbohydrates, and less like I have a baby growing in there.  Last week we learned that our baby is now able to hear us, thanks to tiny bones forming in his/her ears.  Bobby and I find ourselves trying to avoid adult language, haha, but this has proven to be a little harder than expected.  On occasion Bobby will put his hands on the sides of my stomach, to act as if he's covering the baby's ears, if he needs to tell me something he doesn't want him/her to hear.  Keep in mind Baby Peas is about the size of one of Bobby's hands, so this act is totally unnecessary.  But it humors us nonetheless.  Oh the things that entertain new parents-to-be :)

Baby Peas has another Dr.'s appointment on Friday, November 18th - we're very excited to learn how he or she is progressing.  We're also wishing for an ultrasound in hopes of possibly finding out if Baby Peas is a he or she, but expecting we probably won't find out this early.  Things are still going very well for me, but I don't want to get too smug...we're not quite half way there.  I have battled with heart burn some over the past couple of weeks.  Some days are really bad, other days I don't have it at all.  I'm sure all of the Mexican and spicy food I'm craving is really helping my situation :)

I got all dolled up for my 16 wk pic :)

I'm still trying to workout regularly, though it's a little trickier now that it gets dark so early.  Oh, and I'm exhausted by the time I get home - Bobby and I have to keep each other motivated.  I decided to try yoga the other day because I feel the need to do workouts that are a little more low impact.  I've never been much on yoga (tends to bore me a little), but I thought the stretching and balancing would be a nice change.  Bobby loves my awkwardness and deemed it appropriate to catch me yoga-ing on camera. Enjoy!

To my husband...

After my husband kissed me goodbye this morning, he started to walk away, then turned back around and said, "By the way, I'm not feeling your outfit...you look like a 40 year old secretary."  And with that, he said "love you" and out the door he went.  There I sat, dumbfounded.  I was so taken aback that I couldn't even think fast enough to retaliate with a low blow about his work attire or the fact that he uses more hair product than I do.  Instead, I just sat there...completely silent.  There's a first for everything.  Now, a comment of this nature made by your husband during pregnancy could onset a wide range of emotions - hysteria, anger, sadness, sobbing etc.  After he shut the door, for some unknown reason, I just started laughing.  The thought of changing my clothes didn't even cross my mind (I'm pregnant and I don't think my coworkers care if a look like a 40 year old secretary).  Ironically, in that very moment, I realized how incredible my husband has been during this pregnancy.  He has endured it all and handled it with the grace and poise that I'm not sure I would've been able to muster up.  Here are just a few of his "amazing" moments:

When we first found out we were pregnant, we had to drive to northern Virginia for my niece's birthday party.  I spent the better part of the ride there and back in tears.  Bobby was so calm and just continued to reassure me that we had so much to look forward to.  To keep me from crying, he came up with the idea to play The Name Game - which is not really a game at all.  He'd throw out girl and boy names and I'd either add them to the list or shoot them down.  Most of them I shot down, but believe it or not, Bobby picked out both girl and boy names in a short three hour drive home from my sister's house that day.  I absolutely adore both of them - just can't wait to find out which name will apply!

We had not told anyone about being pregnant until the day of our first sonogram.  Initially, we discussed waiting until we entered the second trimester before we broke the news.  Bobby was simply too excited after seeing our little peanut for the first time that he couldn't wait any longer!  He decided we were driving to my parents' house that very afternoon to tell them the good news.  The next night we drove to Pulaski to tell his parents.  I couldn't be happier that we didn't wait until the end of the first trimester - I was starting to burst at the seams :)

During our first appointment, I had made a list of questions to ask the doctor.  What meds can I take?  What's a safe level of exercise?  Do I have to eat my steak well-done?  You know, the pertinent questions.  Unexpectedly, Bobby chimed in and asked how much water I should be drinking and added that he was concerned because he didn't think I was drinking enough.  Now, some of you would find this extremely annoying.  In fact, I did at the time he was asking it.  But after thinking about it, it brings so much joy to my heart that he cares so much.  There are so many fathers that don't go to the doctor appointments or take the time to think about questions to ask the doctor.  I'm truly very blessed that Bobby loves me and Baby Peas so much that he doesn't mind rolling his pregnant wife right under the bus in front of her OB/GYN.

A few weeks later I started having major food aversions, and nothing sounded good for dinner.  Instead of just fixing something for himself and letting me eat the bowl of cereal I really wanted, he would start emailing me around noon with different ideas for dinner.  By the end of the day we had typically agreed upon something.  And occasionally he'd break and let us just order a pizza.  One afternoon I was reading a friend's blog that said she was craving Starbursts during her pregnancy.  At that very moment I told Bobby I really wanted some Starbursts.  Of course he laughed and said I could go to the store and get them myself.  But the very next day he came home from work and surprised me with two packs of Starbursts.  He may or may not have eaten all of the red and pink ones, but sweet nonetheless.

A couple of nights ago, I was having really bad heartburn (I barely touched my dinner) and decide to prop myself up on the couch.  Bobby was talking to me and mid-sentence I fell asleep (ah, as I type I'm realizing how sexy pregnancy truly sounds).  Shortly after, he came over to the couch, pulled the blanket over me, kissed me on the cheek, then went into the kitchen to do the dishes.  He's well trained :)

So those are just a few of my husband's highlighted moments.  I'm so fortunate to have an amazing man in my life to go through this journey with, or at least to pick up a pack of Starburts for me here and there.  Here's to you, Baby Daddy!  Thanks for being a truly incredible husband and father.  Baby and I love you very much <3

Here's an updated picture, sorry I had just finished working out.

14.5 weeks