23 weeks

I'm trying to get back on track with my weekly photos. Between vacations and wedding season, it's been difficult!

At 23 weeks along, I'm doing pretty good. I've gained about 11 pounds. My midwife tells me that at this point in the pregnancy, I can expect to gain about a pound a week. That means another 17 pounds to go. Yikes. I feel pretty big right now. I know that I'll get much bigger, but honestly, it's a little hard to imagine. I still feel great...not too tired, and no swelling at this point. Which is a pretty major feat if you ask me, since it's been over 100 degrees here in Austin for well over a month! But 17 MORE pounds? I have no concept. It's increasingly difficult to work out, with the additional weight I'm carrying. And my lower abdomen is beginning to get sore, especially at the end of the day. I have really been amazed at how different I feel at night compared to the morning. By nighttime, my abdomen is sore, my belly is much tighter and I feel heavier. Weird.

But I'm still enjoying this pregnancy. The baby is moving more and more each day, and now you can actually see the activity on my stomach. It's like a roller coaster!

My 23 weeks pictures were taken down on South Congress at the Jo's Coffee Shop. Someone spray painted a lovely message on the side of their building, and I thought it was appropriate for how I feel about this baby:

My Opus

I would say that James and I are pretty logical and practical people. When it comes to large purchases, we do our research. We try to really think about how we plan on using something, and what will work best for us. I remember when we were remodeling our kitchen, I would wake up in the morning to the sound of the tape measure snapping shut, James hard at work researching and measuring and planning. The kitchen was his opus.

This baby and all the things that come with it are my opus. I have never conducted more research, read more books, given more thought to anything ever before. And the one item of all the necessary baby items that this has proven more true of is the stroller. I have spent more time researching and reading about strollers than I did when I bought my last car. Deciding on the perfect stroller for our family has been futile. It's all stemming from practicality. See, I really want to only buy one stroller. And every parent I have talked to about strollers tells me they have more than one. But what if I don't want more than one stroller? Is this really necessary? Does there not exist a stroller that will work for a newborn all the way up to a toddler, be built for either the mall or the trail, easy to fold and somewhat lightweight? If this does not exist, how come??

I have currently narrowed it down to two strollers. Problem is, only one is available at a local store for me to test drive. Do I take a chance and buy a stroller that I have not tested? Other decisions like the bassinet and the car seat are dependent upon this stroller decision. And I really do not want to buy a stroller now, only to turn around and buy another one in a few months. I want the perfect stroller. My question is, why is this so difficult?

On an unrelated note, here's the bump at 22 weeks, all the way from New York City!:

Halvsies

I am now officially halfway through this pregnancy. I can't believe it! It seems like it's gone by so fast already. In honor of my halfway point, I thought I would revisit this post and check in on my progress. Here is what I wrote back in March, with my post edits:

I will:
1.) Wear high heels throughout my entire pregnancy.
2.) Work out. (hahaha)
3.) Strive to thrift or refashion the majority of my maternity clothes.
4.) Have a natural childbirth experience with a midwife.
5.) Read a book on natural childbirth and a book about breastfeeding.
6.) Take a picture of myself every week and make a photobook documenting this pregnancy.

POST EDIT:
1.) Still rockin' the heels, baby.
2.) Working out about 2x per week. Not as often as I'd like, but it's something!
3.) While I haven't thrifted any clothes, really, I can say I have not spent more than $20 on any one maternity item I have bought. Furthermore, I have actually converted a couple of non-maternity items I already owned into maternity. For free!
4.) TBD
5.) Check and check.
6.) I think I have missed two or three weeks so far. I kind of lost track because of vacation.


I won't:
1.) Gain more than 30 pounds.
2.) Eat for two people.
3.) Find out the sex of the baby.
4.) Eat raw sushi, feta or gorgonzola cheese (just kill me now), or drink alcohol.
5.) Dedicate all Faceboook posts to pregnancy or baby-related topics.
6.) Act like I am the only woman who has ever had a baby.

POST EDIT:
1.) As of 20 weeks, my total weight gain was seven pounds. If I gain about a pound a week for the rest of my pregnancy (which is normal), that would put me at 27 pounds total pregnancy weight gain. Not too bad. Let's see if I can keep it up.
2.) I have not been gluttonous. I snack in the morning on almonds and in the afternoon on dried apricots or a granola bar. My meals are relatively healthy.
3.) We had our ultrasound and were not tempted at all to find out the sex, and I don't anticipate this changing!
4.) Um, OK...I have stumbled here, but only because I have read that it's actually OK to indulge in these things at a minimum. I have had probably 3 pieces of raw sushi. Don't even try and tell me that pregnant women in Japan do not eat raw fish! And it turns out that feta and gorgonzola are totally OK as long as they are pasturized. As for alcohol, I have had sips of James' beer/wine/margaritas, but never more than a sip. And I totally drank O'Douls on vacation. Hey, it made me feel like I was drinking beer on the beach, and let's be honest, what's a beach without beer??
5.) I probably err on the side of more pregnancy-related posts than not. But I try to be cognizant of it. I would grade myself a C on this one.
6.) Hmmm, I just asked James what he thought about this one, and he said that I have not been acting this way. I'll agree.

So, overall I would say I've been pretty good about following my rules. James told me yesterday that he was pleased I have not had the raging pregnancy hormones (read: total bitchiness and/or weepiness) that he's heard about. I really have felt much like my regular self...plenty of energy, overall pleasant mood and no weird cravings. But when I look at myself in the mirror, I cannot believe how my body has changed. I wasn't sure how I would feel about that, but I can say that it's really....awesome. It's totally weird in the sense that my stomach has always been relatively flat, and right now it looks like I have swallowed a bowling ball. But I feel the baby moving in there now and I wouldn't trade that for a flat stomach any day.

Speaking of bowling balls...here's my 20 week picture. We went bowling with some friends and I just couldn't resist!

For Real

I've been a little behind on my blogging. And picture-taking (see last post). But we're going to get back on track here. There's so much to say!

First, we got a crib. And, according to my friends, we are way ahead of schedule. I guess the prime crib-purchasing time in pregnancy is sometime around six months along?? No one told me there were rules about when it was appropriate to purchase things, sorry. Would you believe me if I told you that we didn't plan on getting the crib so soon? Because we didn't, I swear! The crib had been out of stock ever since I found it and decided it was the one. I just happened to check one night, and there it was, back in stock. So, James told me to buy it and I did. I'm sure he wishes everything were this simple.

I will tell you that putting the crib together and in place in the work-in-progress-nursery was the very first moment of this pregnancy where it felt REAL. Like, we're having a BABY, real. It was pretty cool. For days afterward I would just wander into the nursery to look at the crib and the little onesie that we put in it. I can't wait to paint the room so I can get my decorating on! We (I) have decided not to have a theme for the room, more a color scheme of bright colors like yellow, lime green, orange and turquoise. Because nothing says "baby" like citrus colors! Haha

Here are a few random things I have noticed lately:
1.) I can no longer bend at the waist with the same flexibility. This affects everything from painting my toenails to bending over to pet my dog to leaning forward in the sales meeting. I'm told it will get worse, which means I'll have to pay to get a pedicure, have James pet Chloe for me and bring a cot to my sales meetings.

2.) If I stop drinking liquids at 8pm, I can almost make it all night without getting up to pee. However, when I get up the next day, I'm so dehydrated that I drink my body weight in water for the next 12 hours and therefore spend the day in the bathroom, peeing. There has to be a better way.

3.) I'm going to have to invest in new undergarments. In a larger size.

So, for my sixteen week pictures James wanted to go to the Pennybacker Bridge. It was a gorgeous day, although the very instant we hiked up to the lookout, the wind started blowing something fierce. It pissed me off, since I can't really pull off the Victoria's Secret catalog windblown look. For multiple reasons.

15 weeks

This little photo project is turning out to be quite the burden. I feel the need to go to these great places and get these fantastic pictures. But it's wedding season, and my husband is very busy taking pictures of other people, so, I'm relegated to Sunday photo sessions. Those of you who know me well know that I have a long-standing tradition of not showering on Sundays. I've been not showering on Sundays since college. Sunday is a day of rest, people, and showering and putting on lotion and blow drying hair and putting on makeup is not restful.

So, last weekend I thought I would take full advantage of my no-shower Sunday tradition and go bike riding downtown. That gave me an excuse to look like crap in these pictures. But you can really see the bump in my workout clothes! We took these pictures in front of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue at Lady Bird Lake.

13 Weeks

Oh I am definitely showing now! This is the first week I have been unable to button some of my pants. I actually spent a hour in my closet today trying on clothes to figure out what I'll be able to wear for the time being. Thank god for the belly band!

We took the 13 weeks pictures at the Texas State Capitol on a gorgeous (and hot) afternoon. Have I mentioned it's hot here? Already? And it's only April?

Twelve Weeks.

I will officially be twelve weeks pregnant tomorrow. In the weird world of pregnancy, I'm actually still in my first trimester through the end of the thirteenth week. I still don't really understand the whole week/month thing, and it takes some thought to figure out what month I am in, since I am counting weeks. What can I say, math was never my subject.

The last few weeks have been pretty good. Still have that morning nausea, but I wasn't overly tired, until this week. I did finally drop the bomb at work. That was fun! I walked into my managers office pretending that there was some advertising emergency or something, and then gave her the news. Haha. Everyone was pretty excited, so that's good. And it's more fun now that it's not a secret!

We've been taking our weekly pictures, although I am pretty behind on posting. It's funny, I feel like I looked more pregnant weeks 8-10 than I do now. Not that you will probably be able to tell, since I'm not naked (thank God) in the pictures. Gross. But there is definitely a bump there. I had pretty much been wearing more loose-fitting tops, since I hadn't told work yet. But now that the word is out, I hope to wear more normal stuff, even if I just look kind of fat. I don't plan on wearing tents exclusively throughout this pregnancy, I mean it. But I'm ready for that baby belly. Wonder how long it will take for me to retract that last statement?

Below are pictures from week 10, which were taken at a nearby park. The cowboy boots were James' idea, and I love them:





Week 11 was shot at Bull Creek. Since we haven't had any rain lately, the water was low and kind of gross. I came home immediately and washed my feet:







We took the 12 week photos in front of the famous Austin mural. I'll definitely have to come back when I am huge and take some additional pictures:

I will. No, I won't.

I'm officially in my third month of pregnany. Funny, I feel like I LOOK pregnant right now. I'm incredibly bloated. You know how when you get bloated and you can't even suck in your stomach? Yeah, that's how I feel. Everyday. Awesome. No one can tell I am pregnant, of course. Although, I read the other day that women with small frames can start showing earlier. Do you think being 4' 11" constitutes a small frame?

I thought it would be fun to make a list of the things I will or won't do while pregnant. Because we all know that you can say, "Oh, I would never complain about feeling bad after it took me so long to get pregnant. I'd enjoy it." Riiight. I would have totally said that before I got pregnant, but now? I feel like crap, OK?! It'll be fun to revisit this after the baby is born, and see just how delusional I was.

I will:
1.) Wear high heels throughout my entire pregnancy.
2.) Work out. (hahaha)
3.) Strive to thrift or refashion the majority of my maternity clothes.
4.) Have a natural childbirth experience with a midwife.
5.) Read a book on natural childbirth and a book about breastfeeding.
6.) Take a picture of myself every week and make a photobook documenting this pregnancy.

I won't:
1.) Gain more than 30 pounds.
2.) Eat for two people.
3.) Find out the sex of the baby.
4.) Eat raw sushi, feta or gorgonzola cheese (just kill me now), or drink alcohol.
5.) Dedicate all Faceboook posts to pregnancy or baby-related topics.
6.) Act like I am the only woman who has ever had a baby.

I think this is a good start. While I am officially nine weeks along, I'm a bit behind on my photo posting. Here's 8 weeks:

Project Pregnancy Pics

We have decided to start a photo project of this pregnancy. You know, since my husband is a photographer and all. We'll be taking weekly pictures of me and my stomach, but will endeavor to take these photos at Austin landmarks. Notice I said "endeavor": two weeks in and we haven't made it to any said landmark, unless you count that beautiful gate my husband built. Saturdays are the best day of the week to take photos, for me, since I work and generally look like hell at the end of the day. But a wedding photographer is usually pretty busy on Saturdays, so we'll see where this little project ends up.

First up: Seven Weeks.





I look pretty good. Not noticeably showing, but I do look slightly bloated. Um, it's because I am.