Baby GIRL Week #20-23

IT'S A GIRL!!! We found out a few weeks ago at week 20. We are so excited! I wasn't sure how I would feel at first, but after the ultrasound I was able to sit in the exam room waiting for a few minutes alone and let it all sink in. I started making a list of names I liked in my phone and I felt so warm and started to cry as I was thinking about this precious baby GIRL coming into our home. I know that she is supposed to be here and I am so excited to share all things girl with her. Also, I love that she'll have 2 older brothers to help/protect/and love her. We are so thrilled! Matt wasn't able to come to the ultrasound because Oliver was still recovering from croup and wouldn't be a stellar idea to take a sick kid to a doctors office full of pregnant ladies. I found out in the morning and made Matt wait til he was home from work, baked a cake with the gender color inside and caught it all on video as he and Elijah were cutting into it. Their reactions are the best! I have the video saved in our files. Blogger stinks at uploading videos.

I've been feeling pretty good the last few weeks. I've definitely had a growth spurt in the last 2 weeks. I've put on about 10 lbs total so far. I feel so much bigger this time. I wonder if I'm carrying out front more this time. I feel like it. Eating is great. I eat cereal almost every morning. Most the time standing while rushing around trying to get out the door. Occasionally I'll make myself an omelet if I have enough time. I should eat more snacks in between meals but I usually forget rushing out the door and at least one of the boys steal my snack while I'm eating it. I've been really into drinking herbal tea at night too. Calms my stomach if I have indigestion.

Sleep is so important to me right now that I can't bring myself to wake up before the boys to have a little alone time. I need a solid 8 hours or I'm not a nice person. In fact, I've resorted to sleeping upstairs the last couple weeks. Matt's snoring wakes me up and then I remember I have to pee, then I have to blow my nose (I've been pretty congested this pregnancy), and Matt wakes up at 6 am for work and he tries so hard to be quiet but I'm the lightest sleeper this pregnancy. Plus our mattress has been hurting my back and hips. I gave it another try the other night and I woke up so achy the next morning. The mattress pads we have upstairs for guests are super solid and my body loves it. Looks like a new mattress may be in order soon :)

Matt felt HER move at week 22. She is pretty active. Mostly at night or after meals. Cutest little flutters and jabs. I try to do yoga a few times a week. Other than that I've gotten out of the workout routine. November was sick month at our house and I haven't willing to sacrifice my sleep or errand time to fit it in. Maybe when it warms up a little we'll go on more walks. We are such wimps, it's like 50 degrees and we complain about how cold it is here. Ha!

Baby #3 COMING APRIL 2014

Baby #3 will make it's debut in April 2014. My due date is April 20th, but with past history I doubt I'll make it til then. We shall see! We are excited/nervous for the new adventure.

Weeks 6-13 were BRUTAL. I don't remember being so nauseous all.the.time with the boys. I've also thrown up many more times than I would have liked. But that just means everything is going the way it's suppose to for me. I'm also much busier so I take less time to eat often/decently which needs to change. Higher protein diet helps me feel better and stay full longer. A bowl of cereal for breakfast isn't cutting it anymore.

 I'm at week #18 now and I'm starving every 3 hours and could eat like a lumberjack. If I don't eat some snack at night I wake up STARVING in the middle of the night. Also, taking many potty breaks as well :) The boys haven't held much interest in the baby yet. I'm not showing much (put on about 5lbs so far) but that will soon change and they'll notice more I'm sure as I slow down more and more. We find out what we are having in 2 weeks. I've had several impressions it's a boy but I'm not 100% sure. I don't care either way, just want him/her to be healthy and strong. So cliche, but that is honestly how I feel. Pregnancy is such a miracle and there are millions of things that could go wrong so I'm always grateful when I have a healthy baby, regardless of gender. Although if it is a girl, I'm not sure what I'll do with myself. My mind frame will have to change a lot to accommodate a more emotional/dramatic little person. I don't speak girl very well. But I'm sure if it's a girl she'll teach me :) I've never been pregnant during the holidays before so this should be fun enjoying all the treats without trying to get any baby weight off. Hooray! My workouts are pretty much non existent with the occasional walks around the neighborhood and yoga dvd's while Elijah is at preschool and Oliver plays around me. I'm just too tired to do any big exercises once everyone is settled/fed/dropped off and I have no desire to wake up early before Matt leaves for work to squeeze an alone workout in. I need my sleep! Chasing 2 very active boys around is workout enough :) I've started feeling the first "flutters" of the baby moving around this week too. It makes it seem more real when they start moving. I love it. I'm into the "nesting" phase already it seems. I've got this huge urge to just purge every non essential thing out of our house. It just creates clutter, more cleaning up and adds nothing to our lives. I've been going room by room and slowly donating more and more "stuff" to goodwill. Feels good to get rid of the excess. Then I can focus on projects that will actually better our home environment and make it feel like "us".