21 Weeks

This week has flown by.  When I sat down this evening to do this blog, I couldn't believe that it was the end of March.  I also cannot believe that it has been a week since we found out that little nugget is a boy!  Needless to say this realization has catapulted me forward and made both hubby and me realize that we need to get started on the massive to do list for this little one!

Step 1 is getting together some solid ideas for his nursery!  Look for an update on that later this week!

How far along: 21 weeks, 5 days
Gender: BOY!
Weight Gain: 11-12 lbs depending on the day
Maternity clothes: More and more of my shirts are becoming a bit snug.  The hair tie trick is still working on the weekends, but I definitely need to look into getting some more work shirts.
Stretch marks: No
Belly button in or out: In
Wedding Rings on or off: On
Sleep: Like a rock!
Have you started to show yet: Fo' sho'
Best moment this week: Ordering our nursery furniture and having it come in yesterday!
Miss anything: Wine...
Happy or moody most of the time: A bit moody the past few days, but I'm overall pretty happy.
Movement: Over the last 3 days, he has been making some serious waves in there!
Cravings: Nothing at all...
Queasy or sick: I have no real desire to eat anything.  If it appears in front of me, I'll eat it, but I'm such a horrible wife because I don't want anything in particular.
Looking forward to: Seeing the nursery begin to come together...after we relocate our furbaby Lily and clean out the bookshelves.

20 weeks and Little Nugget is a...

I tortured everyone earlier with a bit of a tease in regards to little nugget's parts, but I did not have time to take a picture with the new chalkboard because I was thoroughly exhausted from this week!  I hated to make everyone wait, but a picture in my shorts and a huge t-shirt wouldn't have been what I wanted to have as my picture for the such an anticipated moment!

I also wanted to do a separate post on all of the great ideas I discovered while planning this!

With no further ado, here is the reveal and weekly update!

Baby Cable (little nugget) is a BOY!

When the ultrasound tech asked us if we wanted to know, we obviously said yes, and it wasn't but 20 seconds into the ultrasound that our little nugget was being super cooperative (it will probably be the last time!) and we were able to see the goods!

How far along: 20 weeks, 5 days
Gender: BOY!
Weight gain: +11 lbs.
Maternity clothes: The hair tie trick is getting snug, and the work pants are too.
Stretch marks: nope
Belly button in or out: in
Wedding rings on or off: on
Sleep: Great!  I'm still waking up on my stomach, but I bet that will soon be impossible.
Have you started to show yet: Yep, but I really just feel chubby.
Best moment this week: Finding out baby's sex and starting to plan next year at work!
Miss anything: Beer...this weekend a beer would have been nice!  St. Paddy's day without alcohol was just BLAH!
Happy or moody most of the time: Happy!
Movement: Yes, definitely a lot of moving and grooving going on.  Sometimes it still feels like bubbles, but other times, it's a definite kick or movement.  He likes to hide down in my pelvis still.
Cravings: fruit
Queasy or sick: Nope.  I think that bit is over with!
Looking forward to: Starting to buy furniture for the nursery!

Sex Party (no, not that kind!)

Everyone was full of predictions this week, and I'm sure we could have made a pretty penny if we had put together an actual pool of opinions!  I loved hearing everyone's thoughts, and by the end of the day on Wednesday, both hubby and I were sure we were having a girl!  I was so nervous going into the ultrasound because we had so many people that were chomping at the bit to hear the news.  I knew that we had to do something really fun to let people know, but I just wasn't sure what would be memorable but not stupid and corny.

First of all, I LOVE throwing get-togethers, and I really wanted to throw a reveal party for Baby Cable.  Our family lives 600+ miles away, so we knew that we wouldn't be able to throw a reveal party for them, and I really hoped that we would be able to get all of our friends together the day after we told all of our family over the phone.  It was just our luck that life has been so ridiculously busy with their own children, sports, work responsibilities, etc., so we had to settle for a work reveal.

I didn't let that stop me though!  Since last year, I've really enjoyed creating invitations using Microsoft Publisher, so I really took advantage of the opportunity and made the invite below!  If I had the time, I would definitely start doing this on the side.  Unfortunately, time is limited even now, and I can only imagine what our time will look like in 5 months!

After designing the invitation, I had a TON of really cute ideas about how we could reveal the big news to our friends and my journalism staff.  There were very few students that I really felt deserved to know in a special way, and my journalism students were first on that list.  With our friends, I wavered through a handful of Pinterest inspired ideas.

I'm so indecisive though that I didn't give myself time to order things from Etsy, like this great PushPop reveals from The Gender Reaveal:

I also didn't think that I was a creative enough baker to pull off these awesome sugar cookies from The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle:

Of course, there was the ever "simple" cupcake route, which I was dead set on because it looked easy and let's not lie, yummy!  There was a wonderful tutorial on 2Sisters2Cities blog:

With a 3pm appointment an hour away from home, and double the work load, I knew that there was no way that I would have time to bake cupcakes, mix and make icing, fill the cupcakes, and top them off all before bed at 11pm.  With a bit of school planning mixed in there, it was going to be impossible!  

In the end, I decided to go with the cupcakes, but I found a really simple solution to the cutting and filling of the cupcakes with a very cheap purchase at Target.  In all of my rushing, I even forgot to take a picture of the final result, but I did get a picture of the steps along the way!  Everyone enjoyed them, and was SUPER surprised when they bit into them!

We got some awesome pictures of the little nugget, and tonight I leave you with the most adorable:

Little nugget is thinking really hard about the world problems, and I'm sure baby will have everything figured out by the time August rolls around!

Until tomorrow...keep guessing!

19 Weeks

How far along: 19 weeks, 5 days
Gender: we find out Wednesday!  Hubby finally expressed that he thought it is a girl.  I'm still set on wanting a boy, and I still don't have a feeling about what little nugget is.
Weight gain: +10 lbs
Maternity clothes: still using the hair tie trick with my jeans, but wearing my regular work pants and shirts with a few maternity pieces thrown in (a Zulily dress and a long shirt from Kohls). Though, hubby did look at me on Wednesday and say that we would have to get some new clothes soon (I was lounging in a t-shirt and shorts, and it was obvious that I am getting a belly).
Stretch marks: nope!
Belly button in or out: in, but I think it might be time to take out the belly button ring
Wedding rings on or off: on
Sleep: as always, I love sleep
Have you started to show yet: for sure...but still chub, it's not exactly a baby belly yet
Best moment this week: making it through this new work arrangement without going crazy and realizing that I can do it!
Miss anything: not much this week really...
Happy or moody most of the time: happy
Movement: yes, it's gotten more and more obvious as the week has gone on!
Cravings: I wanted pierogies this weekend.  I guess that proves my child is still a Pittsburgh kid even if they won't be born there!
Queasy or sick: I feel fantastic!
Looking forward to: finding out what the little nugget is on Wednesday and doing a gender reveal on Thursday with my co-workers! I made an AMAZING invitation even if I'm not throwing a legit party.  I'm also really looking forward to when hubby can feel the kicks too!

Check back on Thursday or Friday afternoon to get the total lowdown on little nugget's 20 week doctor's appointment!

18 Weeks!

This week was an absolute whirlwind!  I got some news at work on Monday that completely threw me into a position that I hadn't anticipated taking until next year.  I started with the new position on Thursday, and it was definitely not what I had expected since a field trip was already scheduled for Friday and the arrangement wasn't exactly played out like we had planned.  Thankfully, the kids are absolutely fantastic and prepared for the change, so I just hope that I can live up to their expectations and manage everything.    

As far as baby news is concerned, hubby and I have started seriously looking at some nursery furniture options.  There are so many options and so many different places to order those options, that we aren't sure where to start.  We also don't know when we should start buying all of this stuff and getting everything set up.  LOL It's a good thing that we're looking though, right?!

The one thing that I have no shame saying that I have started to do was look at decorations beyond what we have already purchased.  I'm definitely going with owls as a theme, but we are determined to stick with very neutral colors so we can reuse everything for the next time if we decide to go for round two.  I can't wait to get rid of everything in our "office" and get started putting stuff together!

How far along: 18 weeks
Gender: we find out in a week and a half!
Weight gain: +8 lbs…maybe 9 depending on the day…
Maternity clothes: my jeans no longer fit…I had to use the hair tie trick today!
Stretch marks: no, and I still haven’t gotten the belly line yet either.
Belly button in or out: in
Wedding rings on or off: on 
Sleep: like a damn ROCK!
Have you started to show yet: yes, but still just looking chunky
Best moment this week: helping out with student council and starting a HUGE undertaking at work that will hopefully pay out in the long run!
Miss anything: wine…I could have used a BIG glass Monday night.
Happy or moody most of the time: this week I was pleasantly happy
Movement: I would say starting about Wednesday I definitely felt some butterflies and then Thursday and Friday I was sure that I felt bumps and pokes. :-)
Cravings: strawberries, and it was the first time I really wanted something sweet/fruity
Queasy or sick: feeling as great as I have been in 4 months!

Looking forward to: starting this stuff at school and managing all of the new changes

17 weeks

2/29/2014

How far along: 17 weeks

Gender: ?...we will find out on March 19th!

Weight gain: the doctor says +6; my scale says +8…either way I’m “on track” 

Maternity clothes: Just a shirt or two…my wonderful mother bought me a TON of maternity dresses that I cannot wait to wear!

Stretch marks: nope 

Belly button in or out: in  

Wedding rings on or off: on

Sleep: absolutely loving it, but definitely not able to sleep completely on my stomach all night like I absolutely adore!

Have you started to show yet: yes, but I still feel like I’m looking chubby…a student told me that I had a “pooch” this week… 

Best moment this week: this week was soooooo busy, but hearing nugget’s heartbeat at my dr. appointment, the NewTech expo on Tuesday, and the FoCCAS fundraiser tonight (Saturday) was great!

Miss anything: beer and wine…I so wanted some pinot at the fundraiser!

Happy or moody most of the time: happy…surprisingly I survived 2-12 hour work days without wanting to murder someone!

Movement: still nothing…not even the “butterflies” that everyone says I should be feeling soon…

Cravings: nothing really this week.

Queasy or sick: definitely feeling more like myself!

Looking forward to: feeling those butterflies so that I know it’s not just some random heartbeat in there!