Almost Eight Weeks!

Can you believe it!? Time has gone by so fast with this little one. It's incredible to me how much a little baby can grow and change in such a short time. She's becoming so much more animated and expressive. Smiling has been a common occurrence, and now it's not just when she has gas! Her neck muscles are getting super strong, which is great for Mama and Daddy because wobbly-headed babies kinda freak us out, and tummy time just usually turns into her staring at the pretty, colorful dresser her dad made for her. It's so cool to see her actually starting to recognize and focus on things.

It'll only be a matter of time before this little one is all over the place!

And for that reason, I'm doing everything I can to soak up every moment of this precious time.

Besides the fact that she's adorable, I love this last picture because that quilt was my baby quilt given to me by my great-grandma. I love it and love that I can pass it on to my little boogie!

We left Eva with babysitters (our besties Megan and Eric, who are expecting their own little booboo in February) last Friday and went on our first real date since Eva was born. All I have to say is: Yay for babysitters! It was SO nice to get some good one-on-one time with my wonderful hubby. I think dating after a baby is even more fun because to me it's more special. You really have to plan, which gives you something to look forward to. 

And speaking of things to look forward to, I started my first work project since having Eva and I'm super excited to get back into it. I've revamped my design blog and am excited to be a guest blogger at The Soho later this month. There are a lot of exciting and cool things coming down the pipeline for the design biz, so stay tuned for updates!

All I can say right now is this: life is so good. I have so much to be thankful for. 

New Baby 101

Ok, so maybe the title of this post isn't the best. After all, I'm no expert on the subject of babies. But I'm learning so much everyday, which has been such a cool experience. And with an influx of expecting friends, I thought I'd pass on some of what I've learned over the last month.

But before that, here are some pictures! I mean it's not a good post without some pics, right?

Ahh! She's so cute. I die. 

Anyway...back on topic. Here's what I've learned about childbirth/newborns:

• Milk the hospital for the all freebie supplies you can. This includes the sitz bath, super hot disposable underwear, squirt bottles, witch hazel wipes, various creams and sprays, et cetera et cetera. If you want the pretty details of what all these things are used for, I'd be happy to fill you in.
• Take advantage of the nursery at the hospital! You're not a bad parent if you don't sleep with your new baby in the room. You need sleep and the nurses will let you get it while you can. So do it!
• If you're like me, you might have a little anxiety about the level of...hm...exposedness (yes, I made that word up exactly for this purpose) you will experience in the hospital. Let me tell you. Don't even worry about it. Do you know how many things these nurses and doctors see every day? You are not the worst by a long shot. So don't give it a second thought to let them help you out in delicate situations. They are angels. 
• You will recover. It may feel like a land mine down there for a little bit, but you'll probably be surprised how quickly things start to get back to normal. I had it in my head that it would be so utterly horrendous that I literally didn't get out of the hospital bed for a whole day. That was stupid. Be careful, take it easy, but don't convince yourself that it's worse than it is or that it's ruined. It's not. But! I will say, do not, under any circumstances, look at it for like a week. There's no need and you may be horrified. Just don't. 
• Let people help you, but know that it's ok to say no too. Sometimes you just need a nap or some time alone when the baby's sleeping. So guard your time. 
• Don't get worked up about schedules or routines or how many poops the internet says your baby's supposed to have. If your baby gets a clean bill of health at the hospital and is putting on weight, they're fine! There was a day I panicked that Eva wasn't eating enough so I just kept feeding her and feeding her, which was stressing both of us out. Then she through up all over me. Babies are little people. And like regular size people, they're gonna eat when they're hungry and poop when they have to. Do you let a schedule you found on the internet dictate when you poop? Probably not. So don't worry about your baby. It's not good for either one of you. You'll learn what's normal for them.
• Don't stress about finishing the nursery before the baby's born. You may not really even use it that much for the first month at least. And your baby won't know the difference anyway! So sure it's nice to have done, but if you can't settle on curtains, or still need to add a few things, don't worry about it. There are far more important things to think about. 
• Sleep whenever you can! That's that. 
• Don't read things online that stress you out. Instead, read this pregnancy/baby blog. You'll feel better. 

So there's that. 

Things are going really well around here. Eva's been a really good little baby and we're learning what makes her fussy, so in general we can figure out what's wrong when she gets upset. 

There's no doubt that she looks like her Dad, but I can see some of my personality coming through. For instance, she doesn't seem to be a morning person, she gets hangry, and when she's sleeping, she cannot be bothered to wake up under any circumstances. 

She's off the charts as far as growth goes, so that makes me feel good (not stressing about if she's eating enough), and it's just so crazy to see how much she's grown and changed even in this first month of her little life. 

I so wanted to take pictures of each week for the first month to see how she's changing, but that kinda fell to wayside with feedings and naps and trying to keep the house from turning into one of "those" houses. You know the ones I mean. We'll probably get there someday, but today is not that day. 

As much as I can't wait to give updates on things like "she ate her first solid food!" or "she said her first word!" or "she's walking!" I know that these moments are precious right where we are and there will be a time when I wish we could go back. So I'm just doing my best to soak it all in and enjoy it while it lasts! 

Thankful!

This first week and a half of being home with our little girl has been so incredible. From quiet time studying our new daughter's cute little face, to rocking in her nursery, to enjoying all the meals and snacks brought by amazing friends, we have so much to be thankful for.

So thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who's stopped by and everyone who's planning on it this week. Having a new baby is exciting and challenging and exhausting (in the best way) all at once, so not having to worry about meals has been an amazing blessing.

I'm also super thankful for a healthy baby who did great at her first doctor's appointment, and despite being a finicky little eater, she's managed to keep up her birth weight.

And finally, I'm so incredibly thankful for my sweet hubby who's been taking such good care of his girls since he's been home. We've been so fortunate to have him at home for two weeks and will be sad to see him go back to work. But I'm also looking forward to spending lots of one on one time with Eva and (hopefully) getting into some kind of a routine.

Here's a little look at out first week and a half at home...

Not surprisingly, I've run out of room on my phone from taking so many pictures, so I'm off to back them up so I can share more soon!

Hope your week's been great!

She's Here!

I've been waiting so long to finally announce this! Our sweet baby is here!

Evangeline Joy Mendenhall was born at 4:02 p.m. on Friday, July 13.

I'd begun to accept the idea that at almost 41 weeks, I'd have to be induced. I'd only had off-and-on mild contractions at night, would fall asleep, and wake up the next morning...still pregnant. I'm not going to lie, I was getting impatient and a bit discouraged because while scheduling an induction would have still done the trick and we'd be thrilled for her to get here, I was beginning to really get excited about the whole surprise of water breaking, having close contractions, making the highly anticipated trip to the hospital...probably the only time in life that you'd actually be excited for these kind of painful/pretty gross things to happen.

Ironically, that Friday was supposed to be my appointment to discuss induction, but as Brendan's boss predicted, we skipped the appointment to go for the real thing. My water broke at around 4:30 a.m., which came an invited surprise. We got to the hospital an hour later and after I while, I still had no significant contractions so they stared me on pitocin, which did the trick.

After the contractions got pretty painful, I opted for the epidural which worked wonders and soon after fell asleep for a little bit. When I woke up, I felt a lot of pressure and started to understand why sometimes women who get their epidurals really early on think they don't work because the pressure is still pretty significant.

But then it became more than significant pressure. About ten minutes after waking up, I felt actual pain. I'd completely missed the part about pressing the little IV button to increase the epidural. Oops. And by that point it was kinda too late for it took kick in more because things were happening already. I knew something was going on and Brendan grabbed the nurse to check me again. Sure enough, I was 10 centimeters and she could see the head.

Oooh boy.

I'm not sure how long I pushed for. It wasn't too long, but felt like forever (that is no joke, especially with only 50 percent of what your epidural should be). Thank God the last push was the last because I remember thinking it was the last one I had in me.

And taaadaaa! There she was! The first thing I thought when they threw her on me was that she definitely has her daddy's nose.

She was completely beautiful.

Since being home, she's been so good. She got to hang out her Mimi Jeannie and has already met tons of new friends. She's not too fussy, eats a ton, and is making progress at night sleeping in her pack-n-play.

Here are a few pics from the hospital and coming home...

We are so, so appreciative for all of the prayers and well wishes. We can definitely feel the love :)
We're so thankful to have this sweet little girl in our lives and can't wait to see her little life unfold.

Maybe Today...?

"Maybe today!" That seems to be the running theme around here. No baby yet. I've had contractions the last couple nights, but then I fall asleep and they stop. Bummer.

But she's gotta be ready soon! If there's no action by Friday, we'll be inducing at the beginning of next week. I don't know how I feel about that, but at this point, I'm really ready to see her squishy little face, so que sera sera.

Here I am on my due date, last Sunday...

Look how low she is! I mean, I feel like she's just gonna fall out, but then when I think of the logistics, I know it's not very likely to happen like that. 

We're all ready to go; mom's here, laundry is being done in an OCD fashion, meals are planned and prepared...now if only this little one would decide to join the party, we'd be all set!

Lately

I'm playing a bit of catch-up here since Father's Day and our four-year anniversary have passed since my last post...two big days!

First was Father's Day. Brendan insisted that I not make a big deal out of it yet. I think his thoughts are that besides the work put into the nursery and that kind of thing, he hasn't really had to do anything fatherly yet, but I beg to differ. I'm already so proud of the father he will be to our little girl and how super helpful and supportive he's been to his baby's mama. I can't for him to get to hold her (and see how heavy this little booger is that I've been carrying ;).

Not only am I so lucky to have an amazing dad for my little girl, I'm pretty darn lucky to have a great dad myself. Though we live a few states away, I hope he knows how often he is thought of, prayed for, and loved.

Love you, Dad!!

Just a few days after celebrating Father's Day, we celebrated four years of amazing marriage! I know that sounds cheesy, but this is my blog, and I'm preggo, so I'll take license to sappy from time to time. And I feel like now's a good time for it!

It was a completely beautiful night downtown. We hung out at the waterfront for a while and upon my friend Abbie's advice, drove around several cobblestone streets and ate deliciously spicy Thai food at Basil, in hopes that maybe it would help convince Eva that coming into the world would be a super fun thing to do on our anniversary.

Welp, no such luck. My due date's a week and a half away, and I wish I could speed up the clock (the doc said she's in position and could come any day now), but I have to remind myself to just enjoy the calm and quiet now...before everything changes! :)

On the agenda this week: lots of yoga ball bouncing, walking & spicy food. Stay tuned...

36 1/2 Weeks!

Well, we're really in the home stretch! I guess there's a pun there...

Nothing new to report. Just trying to keep the house clean and keep my legs shaved. The latter is more difficult than the former.

This Sunday she'll be technically full-term, my bag's packed, and I'm planning on doing lots of walking, bouncing on a yoga ball, and eating delicious spicy food.

Who knows...by my next post, she might be here!!

Well...

...nothing new really to report. And I don't want to seem whiney, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I'm feeling fat. And tired. And clumsy.

In other news, I've finished up my last two projects until baby gets here...one of which you can see here. 

When I finish a project, I always feel like I'm coming off a design high and if I don't have something to immediately delve back into. I go through a little design withdrawal. So I'll keep up with designerly-type things on my design blog for the weeks to come. 

But if you don't hear much from me here, it's probably because I'm trying not get too repetitive with the whole "I feel huge and am ready pop" stuff. 

Anyway, here I am at 34 weeks with my pretty friend Lindsey at her wedding last weekend, a lamp that I love in Eva's nursery (love that it looks like a little lady hat), and Mo. Just keeping the Cuddle Bunny warm for her for a couple weeks. How thoughtful of him. 

Notes on the Third Trimester

I'm about a month into the home stretch. With each day getting closer and closer to our baby's arrival, I find myself feeling so many different things. Some days I feel very prepared and have a generally laid back attitude. After all, they don't call them maternal instincts for nothing. They'll kick in all will be well.

Other times, I catch myself in a little panic that I haven't done enough research and hastily whip out my iPhone, looking up everything I can re: "what they don't tell you about having a baby." Sometimes that's scary. I don't know if I recommend it.

Overall, I think we are as well prepared as we can be. Brendan has done a phenomenal job getting the nursery ready and reading through books and blogs with me that are full of really good info. And I feel really lucky to have lots of great friends who are moms to little ones, so their experiences are still pretty fresh and their insight has been so helpful.

Lately, Brendan and I both are short on sleep and he said the other day that it's just preparation for what's in store. While I do find myself wanting a nap pretty much all day, when I actually do get the chance, my mind just won't cooperate. I'm wrapping up my last two design projects, and in my line of work, you never really stop working on something.

Projects are constantly in the back of my head and even if I'm just flipping through a magazine or running my own errands, the designer in me is still scoping out things for projects or concepts. The "off" switch doesn't really exist. This isn't a bad thing; it means I love what I do, it just makes rest difficult when combined with all the other million things running through my head.

Good thing preggos need to skimp on the caffeine...otherwise I'd really be in trouble.

Luckily though, yesterday was super relaxing and Brendan and I both napped on the sofa for a few hours. It was heavenly. And for my first mother's day (which feels pretty weird!) all I wanted was to have a breakfast food feast at home and to lay around in my sweats. It was all a girl could dream of. And then we had fro-yo and it was officially the best day ever.

By the way...those are Danish Pancakes from Trader Joe's. You need to get them. They're delicious.

Anyway, I'm off to get some work done! Hope your Mother's Day weekend was great!

Scatter Brain

Oh boy...I can't believe we only have about eight more weeks until our little Eva Joy gets here! In some ways I feel like it was just yesterday that the faintest pink line appeared in the little window of the pregnancy test. Already, our lives have changed so much and it's only about to get crazier!

Brendan and I got a book called Baby 411...which by the way, we have no idea who sent it to us...so whoever you are, thanks!...and it's been super helpful in preparing us for what we're in for.

I'm starting to pack my hospital bag, just in case this little one decides to make an early debut. I can't believe I'm saying that! All of a sudden, time has flown!

And I know I'm a little all over the place...but here's a sneak peak of the nursery...

Can't wait to show you the finished room!

Happy Spring!

Spring has definitely sprung here in Charleston. In fact, I think it's been here for a while. We've been super busy getting things done around the house, which I will show you later, and we've had some delightful people around that we don't get to see that often. So it's been a really good couple of weeks!

My mom visited last week and we had a blast! The weather was fantastic and we got to spend some time at the beach, and scouted around for things for Eva's room. We found some perfect fabric for curtains, which I couldn't be happier with, and also made some progress with other things too. I'm so excited to see it all come together!

Speaking of Eva, here she is pooching out!

I'm 24 weeks and feeling really good. My energy's good and now that my uterus is the size of soccer ball, I think I'm really showing. As my friend Megan put it, "That ain't no food baby!"

Aaand....speaking of Megan, she and her hubby Eric also came to visit this weekend from Knoxville and we were so happy to see them! We celebrated Eric's birthday at Basil and they got a chance to catch up with some friends in the area too. Fingers crossed that we'll be seeing more of them soon! ;)

What else, what else?

It's amazing how much stronger Eva is getting even this week from last. Her kicks and punches are much more obvious from the outside now. By that I mean you can actually see and feel them from the outside, it's not just me feeling them from the inside.

She's probably a little more than a pound now and anywhere from eight to twelve inches long. I can't believe that!

July will be here before we know it. In the meantime, I'll be getting work done and eating my newly beloved broccoli.

Our Little Girl!

Wow. I can't believe we're having a baby girl. Honestly, I've always imagined that my first child would be a girl, but when I actually got pregnant, I didn't want to say that I had a feeling one way or the other because I didn't want to get in the girl (or boy) mindset. Then if my instincts were wrong, I would have to recalibrate my thinking. Not that a boy would have been disappointing at all, it's just once you're in one mode, it's difficult to switch. You know what I mean?

So anyway, we are obviously super, super excited. Here's a little bit about our ultrasound yesterday:

For the first time in all of our appointments, we were fifteen minutes early, which meant we got to go back with our ultrasound tech early too. She was an incredibly nice lady who covered my belly in weird warm jelly and then starting rolling the little thingy around until up popped a head on the screen. I think Brendan and I both were so surprised at how big she is (almost a pound!). Then we saw her face, which was super cool, and honestly super weird. She wiggled around a little bit, then the ultrasound lady pointed out some other parts like legs and arms, which were a little harder to decipher.

And then came the moment of truth. Apparently our little girl is rather limber as her legs were in a scissor split position, making it super easy for the lady to identify that she's a girl. But we didn't get it so quickly. She zoomed in and asked us if we knew what we were looking at. Honestly, I had no idea. I didn't really see any boy parts, but I didn't want to say "Girl!" and then be wrong. When she told us that it was 100% surely a girl, we both were immediately all smiles and giggles. The ultra sound lady hugged us both and then we met with the doctor who told us that everything looked good!

I also gained four pounds since last month which is a relief for me since I had a little freak out last month about still not being able to eat like I thought I should be. I'm also going to try to start walking for at least thirty minutes every day now that my energy is up and I'm getting sick much less.

In other not so happy news, I dropped both of our kitties off to be declawed this morning. It was terrible because they hate the car and I'm pretty sure all three of us were crying on the way there. Then only a few minutes ago, I got a call from the vet saying that Gigi has an infection that she'll have to take antibiotics for three weeks to clear up, and then they'll be able to declaw:( The whole decision has been difficult and I feel so bad to have to do it, but with little Eva on her way and their increasingly worse clawing, it just had to be done. So one will come home tomorrow clawless and the other should be done in three weeks as long as her infection clears up.

Oh man...so much to get done before our little girl gets here. I can't wait!

Drum Roll Please....

Well, today's the big day!! Today, we found out who's squirming around in my belly!

We're so excited to announce that Eva Joy will be making her way into the world in early July!

Morning?

Good morning! I say that like it actually is morning, even though it's 11:45. It still feels like morning to me because if a morning is rough and I have the chance, I try to sleep it all away for like an hour, after which point, I will wake up and be hungry, despite the fact that I was sick just a little earlier. It's kind of like deciding that the day just needs a restart.

I can't do that every day that I'm sick of course, but days when I can I do. And today I slept through something on Hoda and Kathie Lee about a no-bake cookie recipe, which I may have half-dreamed, and woke up reeeally wanting to make the cookies, but now can't find the recipe online:(

Anyway, I don't really have anything new to report on the pregnancy front. Yesterday was the first Monday in three weeks that I haven't been sick and thought this could be the week that breaks the cycle, but then I drank maybe a little too much orange juice this morning and well...it wasn't pretty. I yi yi.

Tomorrow's our monthly check-in with the doc in two weeks we're finding out if this booger's a boy or girl! I can't wait! There will be so much we (and by we I mostly mean Brendan) can start doing. Painting the nursery, painting the crib, starting the hunt for all the cool things I want to put in there. Poor Brendan. There really is a lot I would love to have done before the baby gets here, not even including the nursery. We have four bathrooms to swap out mirrors and light fixtures in, paint, etc. Not to mention painting our room, the downstairs living room/studio area, putting up more blinds, doing some wainscoting in the dining room....

Ok, my head is spinning now. I think on that note, I'll get back to work. More pics and gender announcement coming soon!!

16 Weeks + TGIF

Sixteen-week belly! Here it is. I've felt preggo for a long time, but now I'm finally starting to look it! This morning when I looked at myself in the mirror I felt like the bump had just popped out overnight. And I swear I've felt a few faint flutters. But I've also been eating a lot of broccoli...so...

Anyway. Have I mentioned how much I love Fridays? Duh, everyone likes Fridays but Fridays are Brendan's Saturday and this morning, in a record-breaking turn of events, we slept in till 10:30, hung out downtown, ran into some long lost friends, had coffee at Kudu, and are now vegging on the couch watching crime shows. De. Lightful.

And on the books for tomorrow: painting the bathroom. Can't wait:)

Hope your weekend's grand!

Little Updates

Well...

• I got my maternity jeans in the mail. One word: disappointment. Really, Old Navy?? That's the size I ordered?? The "baby band" which was disproportionally tight compared to the rest of the sagging "skinny" jeans was so low that they might as well have just been ill-constructed elastic waist jeans that I don't think anyone would be caught dead in. Not to mention that the charcoal cowl neck sweater I also ordered was somehow confused by the same geniuses for a hideously pleated bazar black sweat shirt that looks nothing short of amish. And to add to my madness?? I drive 25 minutes to Mt. Pleasant to return the horrendous items only to be told that they don't accept maternity items in the store.

Thanks. For. Nothin.

• In more uplifting news, since I was at the Towne Centre, I stopped in Pea in a Pod, which I should have done all along, and got some much more satisfactory jeans. Thank ya Jesus for well-fitting preggo jeans.

• Brendan and I went to the wedding of our good friends Jeffery and Ashleigh this weekend and I had Brendan take a baby bump picture before we left, but after further review, I hate it, and therefore will not be sharing. Maybe now that I got some better jeans, I'll post one soon.

• 16 weeks was Sunday...and the roller coaster continues. Many more ups than downs, but still, Monday was rough.

• First house project complete: blinds for the downstairs! Yay! So now when I'm working, I don't share awkward glances with people walking by outside. Next step, blinds for the second and third floor and the bathrooms/half baths!

This is what we're doing in the second floor half bath. I'm still scouting out the mirror, just the version that doesn't cost $300. I know I can find it cheaper. And so the hunt is on.

Mmk, friends. I'm off make brownies for our Code Orange viewing party tonight. What's that, you ask? Elevation Church in Charlotte is hosting a 12-night event where speakers, pastors, and musicians from all over the country (and the world) are taking the stage and our very own Pastor P will be speaking tonight. So if you can, check it out! It's streaming live tonight at 6PM here.

Ciao!

Baby Brain

I'm so, so happy to report that I think I'm finally over the early preggo yuckies! I know I've said that before, but at almost 16 weeks, I feel fairly confident about it now. And now that I've been feeling a lot better, I feel a lot more productive.

Well...until I get wildly distracted by all the cute baby stuff on Pinterest. Here are a few of the little goodies that are biding for my time.

I mean come on. Can you blame me??

In related news, I ordered preggo jeans from the Gap last week which I should be getting next week (dang you, slow free shipping!). I underestimated how difficult it would be to find the perfect jean in my size with the panel that I wanted, but I finally found some skinnies that fit the bill and I'm super excited to get them. Some days I feel fine in my regular jeans, and other days they go unbuttoned post-Thanksgiving style. Yikes.

Anyway, baby M is now the size of an orange, which I can't believe! And we're so excited to see the little booger in our next ultra sound. S/he's gonna be so much bigger than the last time we peaked in and I think it's gonna be a really cool thing to see. It's not that it hasn't felt real up until now. I mean when you're sick and tired all the time, it's pretty real. But I guess all of that has been so distracting. So now, sans sickness, I can just focus on the fact that there's an orange-sized baby in there (almost the size of avocado!).

In addition to focusing on the baby, I can't stop thinking about the house. I've heard about this nesting stuff, but I've definitely underestimated it's power. I don't know why, it makes total sense that someone who does this for a living in other people's homes wouldn't be going crazy at their own- especially if it's a new house with oodles of things to be done anyway.

A few nights ago I woke up at 4 a.m. pondering what in the world I'm going to do in the bathroom upstairs, which I want to be able to transition into a gender-neutral kids' bathroom, and fabric for euro pillows in our bedroom. Those things along with a million others have definitely been keeping me up at night. And also the whole sleeping on your side thing. Which, for the record, I hate. And yes, I have a body pillow. It just annoys me.

Anyway, when I told Brendan that all of the house stuff must be finished before the baby gets here, he laughed. Whatever. We've got time ;)

Tuesday Recap

Wow! Lots going on! I don't really know where to start so I'll start with this: I was re-reading my second-to-last post (the one with the bump pic), and man. Talk about preggo brain. Typos, random words thrown nonsensically into sentences. Oops.

Anyway, have I mentioned how much love January?? It hasn't always been that way. Especially when January = cold. Here, not so much. I know a lot of people aren't super enthused by this time of year, but for me, at least this year, it's been a huge sigh of relief. No more frantic holiday preparation. No more dreaded extended hours in the car. Dwindling morning sickness. Things are really starting to get back to normal, and I must say it's quite nice.

So what has normal looked like over the past few weeks? Well, as an expansion of my design biz, I'm working on textile line that I hope to launch by mid-March (maybe sooner if all goes well). It's been fun and challenging and I'm just really excited to get it out there.

And when I'm not working on, well, work, I think it's pretty safe to say nesting has taken full effect. Nesting and napping. I think I've finally picked out paint colors for the bathrooms, master bedroom, downstairs living room, guest room, baby's room, and dining room. That's a lot of painting. Sorry, Brendan. It'll all be worth it, I promise. I know I have like five or so more months, I just want to get this stuff done before the baby gets here. Because God knows once s/he arrives on the scene, things will be wayyy different.

I'm so badly fighting the urge to share my nursery concept boards and the names with y'all. I'm so excited about both but I know a big reveal is best. But....who knows. I could crack. We'll see. I think as soon as we find out the gender operation nursery will be in full swing, so maybe I can show it to you sooner rather than later.

Speaking of which, we find out if baby M is a boy or girl next month! I'm so excited!! Mid-February can't come soon enough!

Well, friends, that's all for now. Hope you're having a great week!

Finally!

Finally! The much-talked-about baby bump pic! Well, I mean I've talked about it a lot.

Anyway.

Here I am. Fourteen weeks. Well, actually I found out today from the doc that I'm 14 weeks tomorrow?? Apparently my due date changed or something at my last visit. I don't recall that. Whatevs, I'm calling it at 14. I know when that baby got made. I was there. TMI? Mmk. Sorry.

Also, sorry for the horrendous quality of this picture. I was "dressed up" for Brendan's birthday dinner at Basil last night (and by dressed up, I really just mean dressed) and thought it would be a good photo op. What I did not think of was the terrible light and it caused misshapen shadow lurking behind me. According to science, your brain literally shrinks while preggo. The only thing that shrinks.

I saw this really cute compilation of weekly maternity pics on Pinterest (what? you want to follow my Pins? Ok! Here they are!) that I'm going to copycat.

I know, I know. This is riveting. And I have to pee. So I should be probably leave.

Oh yeah, one more thing! We heard the heart beat today. It was 157. Rumor has it that above 140 is a girl. Hmm. I'm not making any predictions.

Ta ta friends!

Hello, 2012!

Happy New Year!! Hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season. It was an interesting one for us. For the first time ever, we spent Christmas day at home. It was the first time in a while that Brendan's family was all able to spend it together and it was really nice. The week before was busy for Brendan, since we had six Christmas services and he had to be at each one. But come Christmas day, the food was good, I felt good all week. It was great.

Then came Monday morning. My family had put off their normal Christmas dinner and festivities until we got up there, so we got up super early to hit the road at 5:30 am. It was good because we made really good time, but it was also the beginning of more sickness for me. Basically, I was sick/sleeping the whole way up, and while I thought it was just the car ride, the sickies didn't stop there. I was sick pretty much every day, but was able "woman up" as my mom says, to get through and had a really nice time relaxing with family. I pretty much laid around on the couch the whole time and we ended up leaving a day early. Que cera cera.

So given that little holiday recap, I have to say I feel a bit a whiney. I don't think I've been able to write one post since announcing the pregnancy that hasn't mentioned being sick and I really hate that. But at the same time, I have to be honest. I had completely underestimated the potential for feeling crappy while preggo.

At my old job, I worked with pregnant women all the time who occasionally had a bad day, but for the most part just carried on as usual. I'll just say that has not been me. This has really been a challenging time. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't work from home. There's absolutely no way I'd be able to go into an office everyday.

Yesterday was the start of my second trimester and I thought for sure I'd be over this by now. And while I have had some really good days, I would have never imagined that I'd kick my second trimester off hugging the toilet all day and have a pretty lame head cold on top of that, for which I can take no medicine.

I haven't been able to gain any weight, and the last time I stepped on the scale I was down another two pounds, which in normal circumstances would be great, but in my head, it just stresses me out and makes me worry that I'm doing something wrong. The last time I talked to my doctor about it, when I had been really sick, he told me it was very common and as long as I was able to stay hydrated, he wasn't worried. But now that I'm further along, I feel like I should be able to eat more and drink more water without fear of throwing it all back up.

Our next doctor's appoint is Wednesday and I'm sure everything will be fine, it's just so easy to get caught up the "what if's," especially if all you can do sometimes is lay on the couch while your brain is going a mile a minute.

I'm really trying to hold on to this verse that's the background of my phone:

"Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through the deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown."

Isaiah 43:1b-2

So even though this hasn't been the walk in the park I thought it would be, it's good to know that I have nothing to be afraid of and that I'm not alone. And maybe in a few weeks, I'll even be back to normal! We'll see! Maybe I'll even get around to prettying up enough to finally take some baby bump picks. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves...