25 WEEKS PREGNANT!!! :)

Today [1.23.2013] marks being

25 weeks pregnant!

We are 62.5% of the way there. WAHOOOOO! :)

I am so grateful that we have made it this far! I find myself praying over her constantly. I did the same thing with Tayler. I was just telling one of my friends the other night that pregnancy is such a beautiful thing, but it is so nervewrecking at times because I feel like I can't protect her like I want to on the inside, if that makes sense. I, of course, want her to keep baking, but I find myself counting her kicks.. making sure I feel her on a regular basis.. I just can't wait to see her sweet face in about 84-105 days! (that's right... that's ALL we have left!!)

And can I just say...

We still have nothing done. :(

Ethan and I were just talking about it last night how at this point, everything was done for Tayler. We were just waiting on my baby shower to see what else we were going to be blessed with. And with poor Quinn, we have half of her room painted.. that's it :( It's just so hard to find the time. With Tayler, I could do things through the day to prepare, but that's difficult to do with an almost 2 year old, LOL, so stuff just sits. I keep making lists of things we need to buy, but we just don't have the funds for it right now. Thankfully, we have 12-15 weeks left... so even if things HAVE to wait until March or April.. they will. I know it will all come together. Good thing is-- the girl has clothes and LOVE and that's all she needs right now :)

So what's going on in week 25??

Well, 'The Bump' says she is about the size of a cauliflower now! They say she is measuring in at about 13.6-14.8 in length and weighs about 1.5-2.2lbs. We have an ultrasound March 2nd, so I'll know more specifics then (I can hardly stand waiting!!!) I can't wait to compare her 31 week picture with Tayler's 33 week picture. I am so anxious to see if they look anything alike :)

We can see her shifting around now. Not just little bumps and kicks... full SHIFTS. It is amazing! I love this part of pregnancy :) It was so awesome to see Tayler moving around and I feel blessed I get to experience it one more time with Quinn! Ethan got to feel her last night and he was just crying... because they are so strong now and sooooo noticeable! It's such a beautiful sign that there is LIFE within you!

And as I stated earlier... We only have about 84-105 days left until we get to meet that gorgeous baby girl of ours! I can't wait. I mean.. I can because we don't have anything ready yet LOL but I am still so excited! I cannot wait to see how her and Tayler interact. It's so exciting!

Okay. Now how about the questions for the week..

How far along? 25 weeks

Total Weight Gain?  Probably 11-12 pounds I would say!

Maternity Clothes?  Yes! Still wearing some pre-preggo shirts, but definitely maternity pants, haha!

Stretch Marks? Yes, but I keep telling myself it is for a beautiful reason!

Sleep?  I have struggled this week. Some nights, I have to fight so hard to get comfortable. I know I've said that before, but it's so odd to me that I'm not even that big, but I still struggle to get comfortable!

Best Moment of This Week:  Every day I feel Quinn and wake up to Tayler is perfect!

Miss Anything? Comfortable sleep. LOL

Movement? Oh my yes! Constantly. She is super active. Love it!

Food Cravings? Subway. Details? Veggie sub on Italian Herbs and Cheese bread, toasted. With lettuce, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, black pepper, and LOTS of chipotle sauce. Mmm! Just thinking about it right now makes me want one!

Anything Make You Queasy/Sick?  Poopy diapers. Thinking about certain foods!

Gender: GIRL!! :) Our Quinn Makenzie!

Labor Signs? No thank the Lord! :)

Symptoms:  Really now-- it's just peeing in the middle of the night! Braxton Hicks. I have had one or two this week!

Belly Button In or Out? She's an innie!

Weddings Rings On Or Off? On for now! :)

Happy or Moody this week? Very happy! :)

Looking Forward To:  Our ultrasound March 2nd! Not looking forward to my glucose test February 13th! :( But I know it has to be done LOL

Happy 25 weeks... on to 26 weeks!

Can't believe our 3rd trimester is only 14 days away!

Cheers!

6 Months Pregnant!

Today marks being 6 MONTHS (24 WEEKS) pregnant! Whoohooo! We are 60% of the way there.... makes me SO anxious and SO excited!!!

How's the belly looking this week?? Well, you can see for yourself ;)

She's really starting to make herself known, haha! :) I LOVE it. Before, I always asked Ethan if I looked pregnant as opposed to fat, haha, and now I am finally feeling like I look PREGNANT! She's starting to round out and not look 'flabby' haha! I LOVE it :) I know I said that already, but I really do.

We have 91-112 days until we get to meet our Quinn. Crazy how fast time seems to be going! I say it all of the time, but it's true. I feel like Wednesday gets here quicker and quicker every single week :)

I am feeling Quinn near my ribs now... she's got to be getting HUGE :) We have an ultrasound scheduled for March 2nd, 2013 to see how big she is. I CANNOT wait. It's a birthday present for me (my birthday is March 6th) and I can't think of a more perfect present than that. When I was pregnant for Tayler, I had a 3D/4D ultrasound for her too... and that was my birthday present ;) Seems to be an every 2 year thing, haha!

'The Bump' App on my phone says that the baby is now the size of a cantaloupe-- about 10.5-11.8" long and about 12.7 to 20.8oz :) That's almost 2 pounds! Tayler was 20" long and 6lbs 3oz when she was born. Makes me anxious to see how big Quinn is going to be!

Alright, anything else to add this week??

I've craved celery/peanut butter AND A1 sauce/steak. Weird combos, but it's true!

I've been trying to eat healthier and it seems to be going well. I'll keep you posted on that as time progresses ;) 

I'm still feeling upbeat and motivated. I feel like I can do so much around the house, haha! Not feeling uncomfortable.. not too big. Just right to get things done. It's wonderful!

Okay. We ready for our weekly questions now??

How far along? 24 weeks

Total Weight Gain?  As of today, I have gained 11 pounds. I was 141 when I got pregnant and as of this morning, I am 152 pounds! 

Maternity Clothes?  Yes! Still wearing some pre-preggo shirts, but definitely maternity pants, haha!

Stretch Marks? I think I might have saw a new one, but I guess that goes with the territory sometimes!

Sleep?  It varies. Sometimes I have a really hard time getting comfortable (and I'm only 6 months.. weird!) but then some nights I sleep like a baby! Quinn has been extremely active about 3-5am and it

Best Moment of This Week:  Every day I feel Quinn and wake up to Tayler is perfect!

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my belly. Drinking sweet tea all day, haha. I had a rough day Friday and I said, 'Man, I wish I could just have a stiff drink!' Sometimes you just need those LOL!

Movement? Oh my yes! Constantly. She is super active. Love it!

Food Cravings? Peanut Butter/Celery. A1 Sauce/Steak

Anything Make You Queasy/Sick?  Poopy diapers. Thinking about certain foods!

Gender: GIRL!! :) Our Quinn Makenzie!

Labor Signs? No thank the Lord! :)

Symptoms:  Really now-- it's just peeing in the middle of the night! Braxton Hicks. I have had one or two this week!

Belly Button In or Out? She's an innie!

Weddings Rings On Or Off? On for now! :)

Happy or Moody this week? Very happy! :)

Looking Forward To:  Our ultrasound March 2nd! Not looking forward to my glucose test February 6th. Blech! LOL

Happy 24 weeks... on to 25 weeks!

Oatmeal Smoothies: Healthy Lifestyle!

I wrote last week about changing my eating habits.

I did terrible this weekend.

I don't even want to talk about it, haha!

I am trying SO hard to keep my weight gain under control and sometimes I feel like I let my cravings and food control me *sigh*

Anyways, I'm not going to let it get me down. I'm just going to keep trying to keep my eating habits under control AND exercising. (I did 'exercise' A LOT this weekend so lets hope that helped counteract some of my bad decisions, haha!)

I thought I'd share a recipe with all of you. I made this this morning for breakfast and it was DELICIOUS and SO healthy!!

I found the recipe HERE.

 Basically, what you do is:

Get about 1/4 cup of oats and pulverize them in your blender. (If not, they will be too thick for your smoothie... do it first!)
Next, add 1/2 cup of milk.

Then add 1/2 cup of yogurt.

Then slice up a banana and strawberries and drop those in. 

Mix all of those together and pour in a cup... enjoy!

You can mix in whatever you'd like. This is just what I did this morning :) She has TONS of smoothie recipes on her blog if you want to check those out. :)

So, that was my breakfast this morning! Lets see if I can keep this healthy lifestyle up for the rest of the day. 

One day at a time for baby and me!

AND.

for a snack today I had a PB + J Yogurt Bowl. The recipe can be found HERE. 

It was DELICIOUS.

AND... only 240 calories :)

Super healthy. Super yummy! I feel great thus far today.. lets keep up this momentum. Baby is happy.. Mommy is happy.

The rest of the day went GREAT too!! I feel so happy!!

Had a bowl of raisin bran as well and for dinner we had salads with steak, corn, green peppers, black pepper, jalapenos, and hard boiled eggs chopped up. DELICIOUS!

I splurged in the evening and had a small vanilla ice cream cone.. :) Good ending to a great day! I feel healthy.. baby is kicking away! No more fast food. That's my goal!

Healthier Lifestyle!

So, we had our 6 month doctor's appointment today. Everything was great.. except for I was REALLY disappointed about my weight gain. The holidays definitely were not good for me. I was so upset I cried. I had been doing so good... and just to see that my hard work is slowly slipping out of my hands frustrates me. So, I vow for the next 4 weeks, I am going to work extremely hard at being good about what I am eating. I want to be healthy for the baby AND me. I don't want to feel disappointed. I know I am going to gain weight. I gained 40 with Tayler, but I want to feel good about what I'm eating and I KNOW I have ate terribly the last few weeks. 

So, for the next 4 weeks (to see if I have made a change at my next appointment..) I am going to work hard to see a difference and not a huge amount of weight added on.

First: It's going to start with what I am eating. I'll be the first to admit... I'm a mashed potatoes, bread and butter, hashbrowns girl. I LOVE my starches. But that has to change. Not as much.

I found a recipe on Pinterest for Oatmeal Smoothies... so those are going to be made this week for my breakfast/snacks. I am also going to have another kind of protein shake for breakfast. Mix it up a little. Healthy and still filling!

For snacks?

Celery and Peanut Butter. Apples. Cottage Cheese. Green Peppers.

For Lunches:

PB and Jelly Yogurt Bowls

Healthy cereal
Salad with corn and other veggies
Peach/Mango Smoothie

For Dinners:

Salad with steak and vinagerette dressing.
Roasted Veggies and a piece of steak.
Rice Bowls.
Baked Ham/Cottage Cheese/Vegetables

These are just a few examples of how I am going to change my eating habits. I'm not dieting.. just getting my calories from elsewhere! And I am going to start doing prenatal yoga every day and despite the cold-- I am going to attempt to walk a few times a week! I'm tired of feeling this way. 

Lets do this!

Lets be healthy!

23 Weeks Pregnant!

We are 23 weeks pregnant today! :) [1.9.2013-1.15.2013]

I rarely post full body pics of this preggo, so I thought I MIGHT start doing it every week, haha! We will see how I am feeling as the weeks progress, haha!

If you can't read the photo, it says:

We finally got your room painted, but we still need to have Gigi paint the tree on your wall and put up trim. [We painted it a royal purple and Gigi is painting a white tree on the wall. We are also putting up white trim and white letters above her crib. I'll take pictures once it is completed!]

Mommy craved taco dip this week. Sadly, it gives her heartburn! [Seriously-- I wanted it sooo bad, but it made me feel so sick every single time, haha!]

What am I saying?? I have heartburn from drinking a glass of water... but usually only at bedtime, haha! [I take my pill with water every night before bed.. and I ALWAYS have heartburn. It never fails, haha! It's crazy. She better have a head full of hair. Tayler had a head of black hair. And I always had heartburn with her too so fingers crossed!]

This past week has been a pretty good week! I still have a pretty good amount energy most days, but I have to my sleep is lacking incredibly. I'll explain more about that in my weekly questions! :)

We finally re-did our 21 month old daughter's room too! We had to take down the crib/changing table for Quinn's room, so we re-did her room the other night. It's a 'Yo Gabba Gabba' theme... with a toddler bed and all! Here's a few pics of that:

These were all taken on my cell phone, so the quality isn't perfect, but you get the gist ;)

SHE LOVES IT. And I am glad she does! Now-- sleeping in her bed seems to be an issue right now, but fortunately we have 3-4 months until Quinn arrives to get her used to it :)

Alright, now for the weekly questions:

How far along? 23 weeks

Total Weight Gain? It was 7 pounds at my 19 week appointment. Of course, that will probably have changed today since I haven't been there since BEFORE the holidays, haha!! I have been trying so hard to be good, but it is so hard!

Maternity Clothes?  Yes! And wearing maternity jeans finally! :) Thanks Mom and Dad!

Stretch Marks? I think I might have saw a new one, but I guess that goes with the territory sometimes!

Sleep?  It is getting rough and I am honestly surprised. I am not even that big yet. But I cannot get comfortable most nights for the life of me-- I have a body pillow, thousands of other pillows, and I still can't find a comfy spot. My neck and shoulders have been hurting from how I am laying.. I just don't know how to get comfortable. Something I am going to have to experiment with because my sleep is suffering greatly for only being almost 6 months pregnant! :(

Best Moment of This Week:  Redoing Tayler's bedroom! We had so much fun and I am glad she loves it!

Miss Anything? Sleeping on my belly. Coffeeeeee.

Movement? Oh yes!! She is getting to be quite the active little lady! I can feel her and see her now!

Food Cravings? Taco Dip

Anything Make You Queasy/Sick?  Sometimes dirty dishes and poopy diapers. Ethan threw up everywhere New Years and that was REALLY tough for me... for days I wouldn't sleep in our room because I swore I could still smell it :(

Gender: GIRL!! :) Our Quinn Makenzie!

Labor Signs? No thank the Lord! :)

Symptoms:  Really now-- it's just peeing in the middle of the night!

Belly Button In or Out? She's an innie!

Weddings Rings On Or Off? On for now! :)

Happy or Moody this week? Very happy! :)

Looking Forward To:  Hearing Quinn's heartbeat in about 2 hours! 

Happy 23 weeks... on to 6 months (24 weeks)

Day 4 and 5 of the Photo Challenge!

I am a few days behind on the January Photo Challenge, so I thought I'd take a second to update! :) 

Day 4 of the challenge was 'View From Here.'

The view after we got home from the grocery store last night was our matching shoes! :) We went grocery shopping and boy was I beat when we got home, haha! You wouldn't think being almost 23 weeks pregnant that you'd be that worn out, but man, I was. My legs hurt, my feet hurt. It was tiring, haha! We still had fun though :) And when we got home, we all cuddled in bed and watched 'National Security.' Then Tayler and I both crashed while Daddy stayed up and watched a movie he's been really wanting to see... 'Magic Mike.' HAHA! Totally kidding! He watched 'Warrior'-- it's some movie on Netflix he has been wanting to see :) 

Day 5 of the photo challenge was 'Movement.' 

Tayler LOVES playing with this toy! She loves moving the circles up and down. Sometimes she'll make me roll the circles up and she'll knock them down, haha! It's one of her absolute favorites :) It's a great game for her too because she can learn colors while doing it. I'll say... 'Knock down the orange one!' Sometimes she'll get it, sometimes she won't, but at least we're learning, right? :)

Day 2 and Day 3- January Photo Challenge

Today will be Day 2 and Day 3 of the January Photo Challenge!

Day 2 of the photo challenge was: Something New

We finally have Netflix in our bedroom! Whooohoo! :) Now we can be lazy.... and watch our TV shows, haha! We are currently watching all of the episodes of 'Rules of Engagement.' We just finished 'Bones.' We've also watched 'How I Met Your Mother,' 'Lie to Me,' 'Vampire Diaries,' and 'The Office.'

Are there any other shows on Netflix that you would recommend?? We are always looking for something new and good to watch!

Day 3 of the photo challenge is: Heart

That's my heart right there. That's my 21-month old. My whole world. I love her more than anything! She is the reason why I do what I do. She is the reason that I work so hard. I want the absolute best for her. I want to be such a good example for her. I want to make her smile, make her laugh, be her friend, and be her mother. I am amazed every day at how my love for her grows. When she was first born, I thought I loved her. Now- it's just amplified. Every day... watching her learn and grow. I love her so much! 

I am thankful for my heart!