20 Weeks

We've reached the halfway mark!  And I'm so shocked that it's already here!  We kicked off the 20th week with a trip to Minneapolis for the wedding of one of Adam's good friends.

This was our last out of state wedding for the year, and the last plane trip we'll be taking before Baby C arrives.  I couldn't help but think of that fact the entire trip, especially when we were in the airports.  Gone are the days of speeding through security with my two carry-ons.  Now we'll be lugging a stroller, car seat, breast pump, and just tons more gear.  It will be an eye opener when I have to veer away from the expert traveler lane and move into the family lane.  I will be one of THOSE people that other travelers avoid being behind when they see our load-o-stuff.  And lets not get started on the topic of crying babies on planes, that just stresses me out to think about.  Our first plane trip with baby will be right back to Minneapolis next Spring, and though it will be more of a chore, I can't wait for our first family vacation!

Fall was in full swing in Minneapolis!  The leaves were changing and the weather was cool, just a taste of what's coming our way in the next few days, no more 80 degree temps- which I couldn't be more excited about!

How far along: 20 weeks 

Size of baby: Size of a banana 

Total Weight Gain: Just around 10 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I enjoy shopping, but shopping for clothes is not something I do often.  I usually spend more of my money on house stuff.  Things have changed, though.  It seems now that I make a trip to buy some new clothes about once a week.  Mostly because I'm constantly realizing that things which worked a week or two ago, no longer work.  I really enjoy having maternity pants.  The belly bands are just not working for me any longer.  When I got out of my car to gas up and looked down to see the bottom half of my un-zipped zipper exposed, I knew the bands wouldn't work with jeans anymore.  I still try to steer clear of maternity tops, just because it seems that there are normal tops that still have enough coverage for the belly.  Target has become one of my favorite shopping spots, mostly because they have a maternity section and are so affordable.

Sex:  Check back in 20 weeks!  I'm going to try to start a poll on the blog too, to see if you all think Baby C will be a boy or girl!

Movement: Once I'm settled in and relaxed, I can really feel the baby moving around in there.  Not extremely strong yet, but it's increasing more and more each day.

Sleep: Not spectacular, but I'm coping.

What I miss: I never drank soda pre-pregnancy, but now I seem to always want one.  The occasional trip to Panera is nice though, because they have caffeine free Pepsi :)

Cravings: Nothing really, just any food, oh and the soda.
Symptoms: Besides the large bump, I have been getting more round ligament pain.

What I’m looking forward to: 20 week appointment tomorrow morning!  They won't be revealing the sex, but we will get LOTS of pictures of the little one :).  

We also cleaned out the Nursery this weekend.  I piled into the crib all the clothes and other goodies we have for the baby so far. Thanks to everyone who gave Baby C these wonderful gifts!  

Bowls of Banana Batter

From my last post you'll remember that we had shelves full of ripe, frozen bananas just waiting to be used.  I finally found the time to put them to good use.  Rather than the same old banana bread, I whipped up a couple types of muffins.  There was the option of delicious banana chocolate chip cookies, but I thought I'd be better off sticking to a more healthy recipe, considering we eat a dozen of these in less than a week.

So here's what I made:

Healthy Banana- Blueberry Muffins (222 calories each, 9.2g fat, 4.4g protein, 2.6g fiber)

Zucchini, Banana and Flaxseed Muffins (183 calories each, 2g fat, 5g protein, 3g fiber)

I got these from my go-to magazine for easy, healthy and delicious recipes: Martha Stewart's Everyday Food.

If you have bananas taking over your freezer, I highly suggest giving these muffins a try- they are so worth it!

Baby on the Brain

It could be the multiple preschool tours, my expanding waistline, our weekend of registering for baby or my Sunday baby project- whatever it is I have constant baby brain.  Understandable for a pregnant lady, but a change none the less.  My normal thoughts and occasional worries have shifted from weekend dinner plans with friends, planning our next vacation and the best wine pairing to the best bottle for a breast-feeding baby, teacher to children ratios and shirts that don't expose the bottom part of my belly.  Oh how things have changed- for the best absolutely- but changes none the less.

I feel like the last couple weeks this baby has had a major growth spurt.  My bump is no longer subtle, and unless I wear a moo-moo, it's obvious.

Ignore my pre-Home Depot look, but this is the most recent picture I have.

You all may not think it's that big, but trust me, when you're looking down on it...it is.  And I've gotten lots of comments from co-workers and friends that I've popped.

Outside of growing, we've been busy planning for baby's arrival.  We've toured three preschools (one more tomorrow) and checked another big to- do off our list: registering.  Both processes have been really fun and one more step closer to meeting the little one.  The preschools are so fun to visit.  I love seeing the little kiddos big eyes when we walk in and watch as they slowly curl up the ends of their mouths once they feel more comfortable with us in the room.  I never realized how crazy some of these places are about registration fees, wait lists and fancy teaching methods....for infants!  But, we've found two that we are really interested in, and both seem to have pretty good chances of having openings when our little one is ready to start.  So, that's a relief.

This weekend I was able to spend some time catching up on some of my sewing projects.  I had a deadline for a shower this coming weekend, so it was good motivation.

Friends of ours are having twin girls in November.  These will be a cute addition to their diaper bag.

And I, of course, stuck to my favorite baby color combo- orange, teal, and mint green.

I've heard burp clothes made from old-fashioned cloth diapers are really great.  I loved being able to create my own with some cute fabrics.  And compared to these cute burp clothes that inspired me, and cost $11 a piece, I'm pretty happy with my $3 burpies.  Warning: If you invite me to a baby shower anytime soon, don't be surprised if your gift includes a few of these. 

I promise my next post will NOT be baby related.  Instead I'm going to find something to do about these:

They seem to take over our freezer quickly.

Beautiful Weekend in Aspen

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend in Snowmass and Aspen.  It was the first time for both of us, and a place we'll be sure to visit again.

Two good friends of of ours tied the knot and it couldn't have been a more perfect day for a White Wedding.

The back of the happy couple:  (We were in the back, so I wasn't able to get any good pictures of them walking down the aisle)

 First Dance:

It was a weekend full of fun times with friends.

On the way back we took a more scenic route and were able to make a pit stop at a beautiful spot.

Not too bad for a little weekend trip.

All those little baby things

All those sweet little baby things will quickly take over this little house of ours.  I couldn't be more excited to stock up for the little bean, but at times it feels a bit overwhelming.  Reading safety reviews, researching breast pumps and baby bottles, deciding to diaper with disposables or cloth, choosing the perfect stroller color, figuring out the perfect number of blankets for a February arrival...and SO much more.  Don't get me wrong, I feel so lucky to be making all these decisions whether they be big or small, but sometimes I think I just read too much into the hype of every little necessary (or unnecessary) baby item.

So, I'm bringing it to the blog.  Adam and I will be registering over the weekend and we'd LOVE to have any and all opinions and input from you.  What could you not live without when it comes to baby? What item was really not necessary?  What are you favorite brands for specific baby gear?

Strike a pose

Something I've been wanting to do for a while is get some good pictures of our first little baby, Charlotte.  So this weekend I grabbed a piece of old fabric and set up a little photo shoot for our little pooch.  I'm not sure I'd call her a model, but she worked with it and gave us some really cute shots.  I hope to hang one of these up in Baby C's room :)

Looking back, I probably should have used a much larger piece of fabric so the cement wouldn't show, but hopefully some cropping magic will do the trick.  I still think she's pretty dang cute!

16 weeks

Ahhh the relief!  I've been looking forward to temperatures below 90 for the last month, and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.  And all of this means we are one season closer to meeting our little bean!  

How far along: 16 weeks 

Size of baby: Size of an avocado 

Total Weight Gain: Just around 4 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Expandable pants are a must have.  I've mostly been wearing the belly bands so that I can keep my pants unbuttoned, but this weekend I made a trip down to the Outlet malls and went a bit overboard at Motherhood Maternity.  No maternity tops though....I'm keeping my eye out for looser non-maternity tops that I can re-wear later.

Sex:  Check back in 24 weeks!

Movement: Tough to tell.  Sometimes I feel little twitches, but can't quite determine if they're the little nugget or not.

Sleep: I used to sleep like a log.  Now, not so much.  This whole laying on my side is just not my favorite.  I just bought a maternity pillow to help out, but once I make a mid-night bathroom run, it's tough to fall back asleep.

What I miss: Not much.  I wish I could keep up with everyone else like I did pre-pregnancy, but now I have to be the old lady and duck out for bed early.

Cravings: Nothing really.
Symptoms: An expanding waist!  Luckily the exhaustion has worn off.

What I’m looking forward to: Checkup this Friday- 17 weeks.  And then in just a few short weeks we go in for the big 20 week appointment!  We won't be finding out the sex of course, but they do the normal anatomy scan- so we get to see the little face, fingers, and toes.

This week we also attended our 2nd wedding of the year!  I was so glad we were able to make it back to STL for my friend Abbey and John's big day!  It was gorgeous, and of course the bride looked AMAZING!  I would love to share pictures (and planned on it), however I got some interesting news after I discovered our camera wasn't working at the wedding.  SOMEONE decided it was safe to put the camera in his waders while he went fly fishing a couple weeks ago.  And well, it's pretty much ruined.  So, that meant no pictures at the wedding :(  The photographer did snap a shot with me and the bride....but it may be a while before I see that one.  Now on to our next wedding- this weekend in Aspen!  Another great couple that I can't wait to see tie the knot!  Pictures will be taken, even though that means I'll look like a tourist or second photographer carrying around our big camera.

While we were back in Missouri we were also lucky enough to visit with some of my family and one of my besties, Jessica, and her hubby Travis housed us for most of the weekend.  And of course I couldn't forget my awesome Aunt Janis and Mom for picking us up from the airport at 1:30 am after a ridiculous plane delay.  Thank you SO much again!  It was really a wonderful visit and I'm so glad we were able to spend so much time together.  My Mom brought up some of the baby goodies she's been working on lately.

Little Booties

Fuzzy rattle

My Mom has been slaving away with all types of baby projects and she's really done an amazing job.  I couldn't be more happy to have all this homemade stuff for Baby C, who I'm sure will appreciate it just as much.  She's also made the Baby's quilt, but I'll save that for the big nursery reveal post later! 

She did an amazing job on this stuff, right?!

So what am I making?  Trying to motivate myself to finish some of these really cute things I've already begun or committed to making before Baby arrives:

Patchwork for a sleep sack

Cloth diapers that I'm hoping to turn in to cute burp clothes

That's all the projects for me so far.  Hopefully I get motivated once the cooler weather forces us inside and the weddings die down.

Hope you all are doing well!