25 weeks

Just being silly in this picture!!!

Yea for 6 months plus: 6 months pregnant and beyond has been my favorite stage of pregnancy b/c I feel like I'm moving out of that feeling that I just look fat to actually looking noticeably pregnant. I really can't believe I will be in my third trimester in 3 short weeks. It's moving so fast and we have so much to do!

Our House: We have been talking about redoing our two bathrooms, re-carpeting, and expanding our backyard for a while now but we are finally doing something about it. Last night I came home after a long day to our downstairs bathroom totally torn apart. John had removed all the wall paper, taken out the mirror and cabinets. So we are all most ready to paint and tear out the rest of the bathroom so we can replace everything. It's going to look great! Hopefully we can get this all done in three months before the baby comes.

Kicking: I really think little Juliet might set some kind of baby record for kicking me in the womb. I am going to start using my kicking counter on my phone to record this activity b/c I think most people don't' get kicked as much as I do!!! She was kicking me straight for 4 hours last night. John even sat there for a while and felt her and said it was pretty crazy how hard she could kick. I'm guessing big feet and long legs. I really wonder when she sleeps and is she going to sleep at night when she comes out of there??? The great thing about being karate chopped all day is that I know she is okay in there if she is moving so much :) In fact she is kicking me right now as I write this, she says "Hi everyone!"

Doctor's appointment this week: I had a doctors appointment this week and not much happened. She just said my blood work and weight gain was good and that Juliet was negative for spina bifida, so that's good. This was also the first time they have started to measure my belly to make sure the baby is growing correctly. My belly measured 24 centimeters which she said was perfect since I was in my 24th week at the time. I guess the measurement is suppose to be within two centimeters of the week you are in. My weight gain so far is 13 pounds.

24 weeks or 6 Months

6 months from the side

6 months from the front

I can't believe I have hit the 6 month mark!!! For some reason I feel like 6 months is a huge milestone in my pregnancy. I'm a little crazy and have read all the statistics on children that are born premature and starting at 24 weeks babies have a chance to live outside the womb b/c of lung development. I'm sure I am just worrying for no reason but let's hope Juliet stays put for a while she still had lots of growing to do :)

Stressful Busy week: So I have been in grad school forever but I am on track to graduate this May 2010 but before I graduate I have to take an exam that covers my classes I have taken at Towson. The only problem is I transferred some credits in so not all my classes were from towson (so I don't know the material as well as most). Plus I am about the only one in the program that also works full time b/c most of the students are right out of College and are lucky enough to have someone paying for them to go to school. So the bottom line is it was really hard to study for the Test that will determine if I graduate!!!!! I had the test on Friday and I don't think it went very well :( I will hopefully hear the results next week but I don't have a good feeling. The good news is if I "fail" I have one more chance to take it in a month... so all hope is not lost yet. It's just been a LONG road with grad school and I may freak out if one little test keeps me from graduating. So it's been a stressful week for me. Cross your fingers that I passed.

My Cravings this week: I had to have a frosty from Wendy's this week :) I rarely have super strong cravings but this one was pretty strong and the Frosty did not disappoint, it hit the spot. Which is kind of weird b/c I never really liked chocolate frosty's before.


My Belly Growth: I have gained 13 pounds so far but I think my Belly has expanded more then ever this last couple weeks (and my belly button is starting to look freaky!) Maybe more strangers will notice I'm prego??? My growing belly is also producing more and more kicking from Juliet, she is constantly practicing martial arts in my belly. I think I have a hyper one on my hands.

23 weeks & baby moon

So I was a little behind in posting b/c of our Baby moon vacation :) Pictures from 23 weeks will be posted in the next couple weeks but for now I can just let everyone know how our trip went.

Swimming with Sharks anyone? My second responsible choice as a parent was NOT to swim with the sharks on our vacation (my first responsible choices have been what I have been putting in my body - trying to eat healthy and avoiding things you shouldn't eat and drink). On the third day of our trip we went on a snorkeling tour since it seemed to be the only thing I was "allowed" to do. The kiddie slide our out Hotel even had a sign that said NO PREGO'S!!!! So signed up for a snorkel tour through our Hotel that told us that there would be three snorkel stops (but did not mention the last stop would be to watch sharks swim around). So when we came to the last stop they told us we could go watch the REEF sharks FEED on the fish food box they dropped in the ocean to keep them occupied while we watched them (you know so they didn't eat the humans). Well John decided he wanted to go but I declined only b/c of Juliet, the thought of a shark eating her made me want to throw up. Normally I would be right behind John to look at the sharks but I guess motherhood changes you and for once I was being cautious. But John enjoyed all three minutes of watching the Sharks and said it was his favorite part of the vacations :)

Early Bedtime on Prego Vacations: So the big difference between vacationing when I'm not Pregnant and when I am Pregnant would be that I enjoy going to bed early and resting so much more. I was actually able to relax on vacation and sleep a ton, which normally would NOT happen. John and I both have problems relaxing and usually want to do a ton of activities. Well since there was not much that I was able to do I was forced to be lazy and sit on the beach and enjoy just being. It was nice for a change but I think John still got a little antsy, ha ha.

My favorite part of our vacation: Was eating all the great seafood! We went to a restaurant called the Poop Deck and had an excellent Grouper and Crab Cake meal. It was soooo good. We also ate some of the local food at the fish fry. In Nassau they specialize in Conch (which is shown in the picture below) and the famous side items are pea's & rice, Fried plantains, and Mac and Cheese... Yum Soul Food!!!! So at the fish fry we were able to taste Conch which kind of tastes like calamari.

22 weeks or 5 1/2 months

22 weeks

No air conditioning causes problems: So this week the air conditioning in my car decides to break. Well needless to say 90 degree weather, no air conditioning, and pregnancy don't MIX! So John let me borrow his car yesterday so that he could get mine fixed while he was at work. Really nice of him right? Yes... but he also decided to accidentally take the keys to his car to work with him and leave me with a car to drive but NO KEYS. So he had to drive all the way back from work to drop off my keys and my day was messed up b/c I had appointments all day with teachers and was running 45 minutes late. Moral of the story, it takes a little extra brain power when you change your routine! Oh and it cost 700 dollars to fix the car, but I guess that's what you get when you put 140,000 miles on a car.







Oh my feet :( This is the first week I have seen it... Yes that's right... SWOLLEN FEET. It is an unattractive sight to say the least but I guess I will have to get used to it since I am not due till August. Move over everyone a swollen women is coming through.







John felt HIS first Juliet kick: Every time the baby has been kicking John has not been around to feel her, since now I can feel her kick me on the outside of my stomach. On Wednesday we were watching lost and Juliet started kicking me (maybe she is a Lost fan?) so I had John put his hand on my stomach and he felt his daughter kick him for the first time :) It was pretty cute.







Weight Gain: 11 pounds - I'll make up for no weight gain this week when I am on vacation next week, might pack on 3 or 4 pounds, ha ha. Hopefully I can control myself a little







Do I like being Pregnant? I would say yes and no to that question. I don't hate being pregnant but it gets hard sometimes like the days when I miss my NORMAL body and have to fight feeling HUGE. I wish I was one of those girls that was in love with my pregnant body but I would be lying if I said I was. I'm in "like" with it, I have my days I think pregnancy looks "cute" and days I think it's not so cute... It's also hard when I want to do things that I can't, like I had a dream John and I went horse back riding but when I woke up I realized I not allowed to go horse backing riding right now... It made me a little sad for some reason :( BUT, the moments that make it all worth it are when I get to see her at our ultrasounds, think about meeting her, and when I feel her kick .Talking to her and feeling that bond makes everything worth it, no matter how much extra cellulite I acquire!!! I also realize how lucky I am to be having a complication free pregnancy (the bad side effects they talk about are VERY minimal) and to be able to get pregnant in the first place and I feel extremely blessed :) I know this sounds corny but it's truly a miracle.





Do I miss my friends Vodka, Beer, and Wine? Not as much as I thought I would :) I am happy to report that giving up drinking it is one of the EASIER things about being pregnant. Sure I would love to have a cocktail or two on my up coming vacation but I know I will have an awesome time no matter what. Going out with friends has been just as fun and really the only thing that is different is I get tired earlier.

21 Weeks

21 Weeks and feeling more and more pregnant!

My first Stranger: I was at a work meeting and went downstairs to get hot tea b/c I was trying not to fall asleep in the meeting and the lady that got me the tea said "Does your baby want hot tea?" So she is officially the first STRANGER to notice that I was pregnant! I really wanted to say back "what baby?" but I controlled myself and just smiled and said yes the baby is asking for hot tea and then I told her she was the first stranger to comment on my pregnancy and to that she said "I always can tell when a women is pregnant, they have that different glow."

The nightmare of Registering: I finally finished registering this week, thanks to the help of Jodi! I really don't think I could have gotten it done (well done correctly) if I didn't have the help of my veteran Mom. John was really helpfully and was always willing to go with me but since we were both clueless not much got done when we tried to register together so I am happy that I have friends that can help guide me... I will have to pay it back to another clueless friend one day.

I learned a new trick: So I figured out that you can take a hair band (or Gum band as John likes to call them) and put it through the hole of your jeans where the button is suppose to go and then loop the hair band around the button. This lets your jeans expand so you don't have to button them and is much more comfortable I think then even the belly bands I have been using. It's getting HOT outside and I am trying to shed any extra material I can.

I'm excited for: Our trip to the Bahama's in a week and half! We leave on April 14th for 5 days of relaxation on the beach. We will be staying in Nassau on Paradise Island. I'm also excited for a bigger rounded belly the kind of belly that you don't have to question if I am pregnant or not... The kind where people take one look at you and KNOW you are pregnant.

The baby's Kicks: So I have been feeling fluttering off and on for the last three weeks or so but I think last night I felt a direct kick to my stomach. It was pretty cool! Then I felt like the baby did a somersault or something because there was major movement going on last night. I guess she is practicing her acrobatic skills while she still has room in there to move around. It should get pretty cramped soon!

Weight Gain: 11 pounds

Picture Show!

We went to Pittsburgh this past weekend and got some fun outfits from Grandmama Collins!

SO cute right?

So I have changed my mind about the baby's bedding about 100 times but I think I have made my final decision... Here it is!

Our Little Juliet at 20 weeks, it is so real now that I know the sex of the baby (in a good way!) getting really excited to meet her :)

I'm half way there and having a....

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weeks: 20 weeks today OR 5 months OR the halfway point to 40 weeks!

Our Little Girl: We had our ultrasound this morning and we could definitely see it was a girl! John was right all along and never thought for a second it was a boy. He kept saying... I can't wait till we find out we are having a little girl. How cute. I told him next time we will have a boy for him, ha ha. But we are both excited and the most important thing is that everything looks good. Her measurements are perfect (those were the ultrasound techs words!)

Tip of the week: Everyone should go get a massage! I have had my second prenatal massage and it is one of the greatest things in the world to help me relieve stress and relax. I plan to get one at least once a month until I deliver :) So how does a prego get a massage? I was expecting a table with the belly cut out so you could still lay on your stomach but nope... They have you lay on your side during the massage. It's definitely a different experience but totally worth it. FYI to all my prego friends you have to find a place that specializes in prenatal massages or they won't take you as a client if they know your pregnant. Ohhhhh and you have to be out of your first trimester before you can get a massage.

Cravings: It's strange I have not had one of those cravings yet that if I don't get something I will feel like the world may end. I have always imagined pregnancy as having intense cravings, you know the kind where you send you husband out on food runs all the time b/c you can't go another minute without pickles and ice cream. Fortunately for John he has had to make any crazy craving food runs yet. I do however sometimes get hungry and have a craving for nothing!!!! I just stare at the food in the house disinterested in anything we have (and we are fully stocked these days) in these instances I usually just end up eating a bagel. BUT I do crave SWEETS and SALTY things more then I did before (well not according to John, he thinks I ate that stuff all the time before also... Maybe I did????)

Dear McDonald's why do I love you!? Since I was talking about cravings I guess I should admit I go to McDonald's about 5 times a week! (sometimes twice a day) and I will get one or two of the the following foods: Fries, ice cream, an egg McMuffin sandwich (hold the meat!). I really don't feel bad about getting the ice cream or Egg McMuffin b/c at least there is some nutritional value for the baby in those items but I do feel guilty when I get fries more then once a week b/c that is pure junk food (unless someone can tell me something nutritional about fries to make me feel better)!!! Just to clarify... I NEVER feel guilty about eating and do it all the time I just sometimes feel guilty about eating things that are bad for the baby but taste sooooooo good to me.

My button won't button! So I realized this week that most of my pants won't button up anymore without causing me much discomfort! SO I just want to say thank god for belly bands they are getting much use now and make my pants so much more comfortable b/c I can just wear them now with my button undone and it's perfect! Summer is around the corner and I plan to live in stretchy skits so I don't have to worry about stupid buttons.

Weight gain: 10 pounds - Which I think is on target for the amount I should be gaining so that is good. The books I have say between 8-15 pounds.