Three weeks from today. . .

I will be sitting here at my desk biting my nails, an uncontrollable, nervous wreck. That's because I will be awaiting the all important Dr. appointment to finally tell us if we'll be seeing pink or blue in the future.

The Real Deal guide to pregnancy (which just happens to be my FAVORITE book on pregnancy) has this check list. . .

It's a boy if. . . .    

• when you add your age at the time of conception and the number of the month you conceived, the sum is an even number.~Yes
• The dad-to-be is packing on the sympathy weight.~No
• You skipped morning sickness.~Yes
• Headaches are a regular occurrence.~No
• You've never looked better!~ NO!!!! I think I look awful!
• You look like you stuffed a basketball up your shirt.~No
• Your nose is getting wider.~No
• Your leg hairs are growing like weeds!~No
• Your pee is easter-egg yellow.~No
• You crave salty or sour foods or proteins.~Sometimes. .
• Your baby's heart rate doesn't exceed 140 bpm.~No
• Your tooties are chillier than usual.~No
• Your hands are as dry as the desert.~No
• Your bump rides low.~No
• A ring swings back and forth when dangled from a string over your belly. ~ Don't know haven't tried this?
• So that's 2 yes's and 11 no's. . . .

It's a girl if. . . .

• When you add your age at the time of conception and the number of the month you conceived the sum is an odd number.~No
• Your age when you conceived and the year you conceived are both even or odd numbers.~No
• Your Junk is in the trunk and your hips rather than your tummy area.~Yes, by bum has doubled in size! Yikes!
• You got intimate with morning sickness during your first trimester.~No
• PMS is nothing compared to your pregnancy moods.~YES!
• Pregnancy doesn't become you.~ Yes, I have never looked worse!
• You look like you stuffed a watermelon under your shirt.~Not yet, I'm not big enough to tell
• You look like you got a boob job.~Yes
• Your left breast could beat your right if both were in a wet t-shirt contest where size mattered.~Don't know, haven't made this observation yet. . .
• Your hair turned slightly redhead.~ Hmm. . . how do I tell?
• Your pee is a dull yellow color.~Yes
• Sweets are your craving of choice~Yes, dingdongs are a girls best friend!
• Your baby's heart rate is at least 140 bpm.~Yes, it's been above 157 every time so far
• Your face reminisces the breakouts of your teen years.~Yes!! It's worse than my teen-age years!
• You are carrying high.~Probably it's still hard to tell
• A ring swings in a circular motion when dangled from a string over your belly. ~Don't know haven't tried this out yet?
• That's 6 for sure yes's and 3 no's. . .

So, I have a gut feeling I know what it is, but by the different tests and checklist I have read and taken it's not convincing me either way. The Chinese gender prediction chart says it's a boy.  The Old Wives Tale quiz said it's a girl!  What do you think, am I having a boy or a girl?? It won't be long now and we will know for sure!!

Fun weekend ahead!!

Tonight we are going to a birthday party for Alexandra, who turned FIVE earlier this week! I just can't believe how fast that girl is growing!!!

Tomorrow I am meeting one of my best friends, Meghan, in Memphis to see Legally Blonde the musical at the Orpheum ! It's going to be so much fun! I just wish is was going to be a little warmer, so I could wear my pink heels!!

We've made it to week 16!!

Four months down! It's really hard to think that we are almost to the half way mark?! I have been feeling really good, considering. This crazy weather isn't helping my allergies, but it's that time of year, I guess.  I am really having trouble with my pants fitting. I now have a total of 3 pairs of maternity pants.  I surrendered! I need some more though, three doesn't go very far! The Bella Band is ok, it's not as comfortable with jeans but it works well with thinner dress pants.

I had another Dr. appointment Friday afternoon and it went fine. Dr. Layton was able to find the baby's heart beat easily this time and it was strong 157.  I have gained a total of 7 lbs, which is supposed to be a completely normal amount, but I don't like getting on that scale and seeing it! We were in and out in like 20 mins! She said it shouldn't be too much longer before I will be able to feel the baby moving, that will be really weird! She also told us that the next time we come they will do an ultrasound to examine the baby's anatomy. . . which means will get to find out if it's a boy or a girl! We sat up our next appointment for Friday, March 27th! I can't wait!  I won't have blood work for a couple  more visits, since we are forgoing all the genetic testing. Which is so nice, I hate giving blood. Unfortunately, my appointment in April will include the glucose test, which I have heard HORRIBLE things about and I am dreading it already!!

Saturday we didn't do much at all, I slept late and took a nap! It started snowing about 1:30 I couldn't believe how fast it was coming down, it wasn't long before the ground was covered. By the time we got ready to leave for Stephen and Kayce's at five I bet we had a good 2-3 inches.  We went to a first birthday party for my cousin Kayce's little boy, Cooper.  We ate BBQ and cake and watched Cooper (or Kayce, I guess did all the work) open his many presents.  It was still snowing when we left the party at 8:30! And the roads and overpasses were getting a little slippery. We decided to run into Walmart and get a few things in case we didn't have church and needed to stay in on Sunday. It was actually not very busy, I was pleasantly surprised.  It was soooo cold with the snow coming down so hard! I bet we got a total of 3-5 inches at our house. I really wish I had taken some pictures, it was really pretty.

Sunday we didn't have bible class, it was canceled due to the snow and worship service didn't start till 10am, so we got to sleep in a little again! I took another nap Sunday afternoon, too. When I woke up from my nap I felt horrible, I knew it was a sinus headache but didn't think much about it. Then we went to evening worship and out to eat with some friends.

Yesterday morning when I woke up I felt like I had been hit by a train. My throat was sore, nose was stuffy, and I had a headache. So, I took a benedryl and tylenol and went back to bed! I slept most of the morning and kept taking meds every four hours. By that afternoon I was feeling much better.  Which was good, because I would have been devastated to miss the party last night. We had a small "going away" party for my friend Amanda. She and baby Landon, will be joining Brian, her husband,  in North Carolina this weekend. It was fun just to sit around and talk. And it was sad when it was time to leave, it's just not going to be the same without them. . . but I know that they will be back visiting before too long!

Really??? That's in there??

At 15 weeks . . . . so, I think I may have more of a belly than I  first thought! It's a small baby bump but it is definitely there!  The visual of an actual orange next to my belly is really strange. 

I got my new maternity jeans in yesterday and had to try them on. Wow are they comfy! I may never go back to regular jeans again! I am lucky in that GAP makes my favorite jeans cut in maternity sizes!  They look pretty much like my regular ones just with a stretchy knit band instead of a zipper and button! Fabulous!  Hey, this maternity clothes thing might not be so bad after all!

Week 15!

The Bump says the baby is the size of an orange?! How weird is that? It's hard to imagine a foreign object in my body that is that large! I am not really "showing" yet.  I am still just looking a little rounder these days. I did notice something gross. . . my belly button has spread. Eww. It used to be a cute little, bitty thing and now it's really spread out and a lot larger. . . definitely weird looking.

My Bella Band came in yesterday.   It's a seamless knit band that you wear over your pants. You can wear it over unbuttoned pants to hold them up and hide the unfastened closures or over too loose maternity clothes to help hold them up.  It's really neat. I hope it works as well as they say it does! I will be testing it out soon!

Last Wednesday was Jarrod's birthday! He turned a whopping 27! We didn't do anything exciting for his birthday. I did buy him an ipod, which I think he was pleased with.  Friday night we went out to eat with some friends and then ran some errands and did some shopping at the mall. Saturday afternoon we went to Searcy to have our birthday dinner with Jarrod's family and Sunday we had our birthday lunch with my family. I had to be back in J'boro by 4pm for a baby shower for a friend from church.  Then after church we went out to eat with some friends from church.

Here is a pic of part of the shower gift. . . . 

I also got her a pink bath tub (I didn't know they made those!) and some baby bath stuff. It was such a fun shower. . .there was so much pink!!

Mom came to Jonesboro yesterday afternoon and since I had most of my projects wrapped up I took the afternoon off and went with her. We had lunch and did some shopping and let me tell you she wears me out! Jarrod had gone to help paint an older lady from church  house that was damaged by the ice storm after he got off work, so I was in no hurry to get home.  When mom left it was around 7pm, I ate supper, took a bath and was in bed around 9pm . . . I  was exhausted!

Oh, and it is still not finalized, but Jarrod thinks he might have sold his truck. . . I am not kidding. So, it looks like he will be getting a new truck in the near future, which will make 6 trucks in the 3 1/2 years we have been married. . . .hmm?? Do you think he has commitment issues when it comes to trucks or what?? He claims he needs a bigger truck now that we are expecting. Whatever?!?

I still have a busy week ahead, my birthday is Wednesday, I have a dentist appointment Thursday (which means I will get to eat lunch with Mom twice this week) and we have a doctor's appointment Friday. We are just supposed to see the Dr., no blood work or anything scary this time. I just hope she can catch the heartbeat on the doppler this time. . .or maybe not it did work out better the last time when we got the extra ultrasound.  I am pretty sure our next appointment after this one they will attempt to see if they can determine the sex. I am super excited about finally finding that out!!

13 weeks down. . . .

27 more to go?? It doesn't sound like much progress!

This past week has been a busy one. Luckily Jarrod is back to pretty normal hours. I was really getting tired of his 7am-10pm days. 

To start work was really busy, then I had lots of DP projects to finish up, Monday I took the cat to the vet only to find out the Dr. is worried about her weight (not a big surprise there. . . ), got my hair cut and colored on Tuesday, Thursday night we went to the ASU game (Jarrod's V-day present), had company come visit (Jarrod's mom and sis) on Friday, had a girls night out  Saturday night while the guys went to Larry the Cable guy (Jarrod's xmas present), and went to some friends house for dinner last night after church. . . .whew.

I have to share a funny from the ASU game. We ran into a guy from church on our way in and he had an extra ticket and a voucher for a hot dog, popcorn and coke so he gave it to us since we didn't get our tickets in advance.  So, we get there and get in our seats and Jarrod asked me what I want to eat. I tell him I want a hot dog and nachos and a drink. Simple enough. He comes back with one hot dog, one nachos, one coke and one popcorn. He sits down and I say, "Thanks, so what are you going to eat??" Seriously. I was starving. He then informs me that he thought I could just eat what I wanted and he'd take the rest???? Uh, he must have forgotten how much I am eating these days! I almost asked him to get me 2 hot dogs I was so hungry!! So, he had to go back and get himself some food. Really what was he thinking?? Men?!

Saturday night Amy and Amanda and I went out to eat and then to see Confessions of  a Shopaholic, it was so cute.  I want to see it again! I highly recommend it!

I am looking forward to a slightly less busy week this week. Jarrod's b-day is Wednesday, and I have NO idea what to buy him. He said he didn't want anything. hmmm. . . .

Some Ups and Downs

Just wanted to share my happiness. . . I got my hair colored yesterday! For the first time since the first of November! Wow! I knew it had been a long time, but I didn't realize it had been that long!!  I have done a lot of research and nothing convinced me that getting my hair dyed is going to adversely affect my baby. Most of the more conservative books/web sites I have read simply suggested that if you must dye your hair, waiting until after the first trimester is the safest bet.  My red is back and I really feel more like myself again, and that is a tremendous boost for me!

I did find out something a few days ago that I am bummed about. No spray tanning. It contains a chemical that can be dangerous. Boo. Now I am going to be big, fat and white this summer. . . . great. {sigh} There are some self tanners I read that are ok, but I haven't been online to check out which ones are safe. I am just not very good with "self application". I tend to get impatient and then I mess it up.  I guess I will have to research that option a little better. 

I must admit it's hard for me right now. I know I should be thanking my lucky stars that I have felt so great. My complaints are all about my fading physical appearance. [note: the following is a vain ranting of the blog author brought on by devil (aka.  crazy pregnancy hormones), please feel free to roll your eyes while and/or after reading]. My clothes don't fit, and I don't look pregnant yet, just fat.  I am getting rounder by the day. I worry I will soon look like the girl that turned into a blueberry on Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory only not blue, I really don't want to buy maternity clothes just yet, and I don't want to buy new, bigger real clothes either!?  My face is horribly broke out, and I can't seem to get it under control. I haven't been this broke out since I was 14! My fingers are constantly changing sizes, in the morning my rings slide right on, but by the evening my fingers are so swollen I can hardly get them off!  I just wish I would pop on out there and start to really look pregnant so I could at least get a little sympathy for looking so bad!  . . . I know some of you must understand how I feel! Please tell me it's going to get better! ha!