Calling all Mommys!

It is time for us to register for our little bundle of joy. However, every time I begin making a list or begin thinking about going into the store and registering I start to freak out and get a little overwhelmed! So I hoped that I could get some input from you Moms out there or Moms to be! :)

I want to know what is one thing (or two....or three) that you absolutely LOVE and/or wouldn't want to be without for your baby. I would really like to hear some of your input on this. It may help me get my booty in gear and feel confident about getting what my baby needs and what I need to be prepared for this mommy business ;)

Thank you!

22 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 22 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Last Dr visit was about 10 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Everyday :) I can still squeeze into some of my stretchy jeans...but it's a tight fit.

Sleep: Sleeping pretty good lately. I love waking up to baby kicks in the morning :)

Best Moment this week: It was actually last week...seeing our baby GIRL on the ultrasound. Amazing :)

Gender: GIRL!

Movement: Yup! Lots of it! Usually when I lay down to rest or relax.

Food Cravings: Still cereal and fresh fruit!

Food Aversions: Not at the moment.

How's Mama? Doing good. My preggy pilates is helping my lower back...and helping me feel a little better about the extra doughnut I ate...and ice cream....and 2nd (or 3rd) bowl of cereal.

What I am looking forward to: Registering!....but I'm a little lost on where to begin.

Our Baby in Veggie/Fruit Terms: Baby Foley is a papaya!

Baby's settling into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop

Halfway there!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 20 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Last Dr visit was 6 lbs...but I know I've gained a few more :)

Maternity Clothes: Everyday :) And they are sure comfy! Thank you sister for your suitcase full of clothes!

Sleep: Sleeping pretty good. Baby thinks it is play time for the first hour of my sleep :)

Best Moment this week: Visiting my Sis in Texas and having her feel baby move. Also having Laney say hi to baby and kiss my tummy :)

Gender: We find out February 23!....5 more days!!!

Movement: Oh yes! Especially when I flew to Texas. Baby was a rollie pollie on the plane! And anytime I lay down to rest baby wants to play. I love it :)

Food Cravings: Cereal and fresh fruit.

Food Aversions: Not at the moment.

How's Mama? Still doing good! Started doing some Preggy Pilates to stay somewhat in shape and to help my lower back which has been hurting lately.

What I am looking forward to: Finding out what gender baby is!

Our Baby in Veggie/Fruit Terms: Baby Foley is a small cantaloupe!

Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid.

"Baby, Baby, Baby Ohhhhhh!"

Yes, you should be singing that to the tune of Justin Bieber....the Biebs.....the Biebster (ok I'll stop now..) Yikes! I admit, I'm a fan-and I find myself singing this song to my little baby :) Here is my 18 week update!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Dr says six pounds! I'm beginning to feel it especially (sorry boys) in the chest region ;) and the back end region. Lovely...like I needed either of those to be bigger..

Maternity Clothes: Just my belly band. I'm waiting until I go to Texas next week to have the shopping expertise of my sis to help me out.

Sleep: Sleeping pretty good. Still peeing a couple times during the night...and I wake up on and off a lot after 3am.

Best Moment this week: Feeling baby move around! AND having Jonny feel a kick :)

Gender: We find out February 23!

Movement: Yup! There's no real schedule to it-but definitely feeling some movement! Baby has a lot of fun especially around 3am and 6am. (Is this a forecasting of what's to come?) :)

Food Cravings: Still cereal and fruit. And now cold stone ice cream! yummy.

Food Aversions: Depends on the day...and the smell..

How's Mama? Doing good. So happy to feel little one moving around! I still feel like my appearance is "in between", but I can tell slow changes here and there.

What I am looking forward to: Finding out what gender baby is!

Our Baby in Veggie/Fruit Terms: Baby Foley is my little sweet potato this week.

Baby's become amazingly mobile- passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing.

Belly Update

I am now 16 weeks along. My belly "comes and goes" as I put it. Sometimes I can really tell it's getting bigger, but other times (especially first thing in the morning) I look down and think "Is there really a baby the size of an orange in there?" From what I've seen and have been told these next couple of weeks are when things really start kicking into gear. Belly really starting to show, feeling baby move, and finding out if baby is a boy or girl. We have our next Dr appointment on Monday-but I don't know if they will do an ultrasound. And if they do I think it's still too early to find out the gender. So most likely we will find out in mid February. What a lovely little Valentines gift :) I loved reading Stephanie's blog (How Sweet it is!) on her pregnancy because she would do a "Highlights" section on what was going on with her and baby at that time. So I decided to do the same because I loved it so much and I think it's a good way to remember all the little things once baby is here.

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Ummm...I have no idea! No scale in our house...I would probably cry anyway if I were to step on it everyday. So we decided the Dr's weigh ins will be fine :)

Maternity Clothes: None yet...although I did hit a good sale at Target the other day. So I have started stocking up. I think the Belly Band will make its appearance soon. Some of my jeans are a little too tight for comfort.

Sleep: I've been very "tossy and turny" since I became pregnant. I wake up frequently-but maybe that's due to the fact I have to pee about 3-4 times during the night.

Best Moment this week: Can eating be an option? :) Juuust kidding. I THINK I felt baby move...but I can't be sure. So if it was then that would be the best moment :)

Gender: We don't know yet! I can't wait until we find out!

Movement: I think I've felt a couple pokes...but I can't be sure. It may just be some "air" floating around and I'm confusing it with movement... ;) Hopefully soon I'll be able to distinguish that.

Food Cravings: Cereal, fresh fruit (especially grapefruit, kiwi's and green apples), whole milk

Food Aversions: Depends on the day...and the smell..

How's Mama? I'm doing good. I'm a little frustrated at this "in between" stage I'm in. I still look chubby-but those who know me know that I have a belly sticking out that usually isn't there. And I'm trying to stay "in the moment" instead of looking forward to everything to come! I want to enjoy every moment of this time, but I just can't stop thinking about holding this little one in my arms :)

What I am looking forward to: Ummmm EVERYTHING! :) I can't wait to really feel baby kick, to find out whether baby is a he or a she, getting a big belly (yes, I am really looking forward to that actually. I may be eating my words in a couple months though)

Our Baby in Veggie/Fruit Terms: Little one is the size of an avocado.

A little emotional?

Yep. Emotions up the wazoo. And I don't know how to control them, or if I even can!

Example #1: Yesterday I was driving to work and was at a four way stop. When it was my turn (or so I thought) I began to go. I was turning, and apparently the lady across from me did not agree that it was my turn so she put her peddle to the meddle and didn't even hint at stopping. I had to slam on my breaks and I threw my hands up in the air looking at her saying over and over "seriously? SERIOUSLY!?" (as if that would help somehow). And as she passed she had a little smirk on her face and was barely shaking her head from side to side. It felt like she was mocking me....oooooo and boy did that make me angry. I continued my turn after she had passed and began getting more and more worked up about how ridiculous she had been...even if I did go out of turn, was it really worth it to almost run into me!? And as quickly as my anger had arrived the tears began welling in my eyes. My thoughts turn to "why do people have to be so mean! I thought it was my turn...if I knew it was hers I would've waited...I don't want people to think I'm mean...She almost HIT me!" I was so sad and flustered at what had just happened, but I had to pull myself together because I was only about a block from work and was soon parking my car. And as I was getting out of the car I thought to myself...wow, that was a little over the top.

Example #2: I wanted to d0 something nice for my husband today. He is working all day and I decided I would bring him lunch-but because of me being already a "moody eater" (as he calls it) and now preggo on top of that AND not really knowing what I wanted I texted him to tell me what I could bring. He decided on Costco which sounded ok to me. But as I was driving there and thinking about the food my heart got set on one of their huge slices of chesse pizza. Yum. So I walked in, and of course it was packed. However, to my surprise, the food court line only had one person! SCORE! I was so excited! I was going to get my food quickly and be able to get to Jon's work faster. I walked up, ordered one polish dog (for Jonny) and a slice of cheese pizza for me! She came back and placed the pizza right under my nose...oh it looked so good! Finally, for the first time today, SOMETHING sounded good to eat! So I handed her my Costco card, and she said "sorry, we only take cash or check". Ummmmm....excuse me? But this is my card. That I had to get specifically for this place. And you're telling me I can't use it?. Seriously? Why do I even have this stupid thing! She pointed out that I could pay for it at the normal registers. So I looked behind me and saw about 20 people in each line with 2 shopping carts each (obviously a slight exaggeration, but I was cranky and didn't want to wait! The pizza was calling my name!) I also didn't want to look like a weirdo when I got up to the register after the wait and say "I would like a hotdog and pizza please....yes, that is all". So I decided just to leave. And on my way out I had a meltdown. I called my husband and felt like I had let him down (it had taken us a while to decide on Costco in the first place), and I also just wanted my cheese pizza! So I got in the car as Jon answered the phone. I told him what had happened and he said you can just get me whatever you want. That's when the flood of tears came...."but I just went inside...and they wouldn't take my card....and I don't want to go anywhere else....I just wanted cheese pizza....I wanna go home now...." (all of this barely audible to my husband who probably couldn't understand me between my sobs and tears). But he is the most wonderful husband who knows me all too well (but as well as he managed the situation I could still tell that he was thinking "all this over pizza?") He told me to just come to his work and we would figure something out. And he did, and I ate a wonderful lunch with him. When I walked in I wanted to just crack up laughing at how ridiculous I must have sounded on the phone....

So all that to say...I think I'm a little emotional lately. :)

Surprise!

Jon and I found out in October that we are going to have a baby!! :) :)

We are both VERY excited, and although it wasn't quite "planned", we can't wait to meet our little bundle of joy and feel so blessed already! We had our 12 wk check up today and baby was very active! Doing somersaults, kicking feet, waving, opening and closing mouth (I say Baby was trying to say hello to us) We are proud parents already...I can't even think of what it will be like when Baby Foley is actually in our arms.


I can't wait to kiss Baby's cute little cheeks, cuddle with him/her, and enjoy all the blessings this child will bring to our family! Come July 2011 Jon and I will have a new addition to our family! :)