Bump Day: 19 weeks

Today marks the start of my 19^th week of pregnancy, which means I’m almost halfway through the whole 40 week ordeal. I’m still feeling baby kick up a storm, and each day the little jabs feel stronger. I’m anxious for Jonathan to be able to feel the baby from the outside, but at the same time, I’d rather the baby hold off on the really powerful kicks for as long as possible. After all, I still have a long way to go.   

I don’t think I’ve gained a noticeable size difference in my bump this week, but that could just be because of my newfound tan. They always say, a tanned belly looks smaller than one that’s been covered up by sweaters in the Arctic Circle for the past year. So even though I’m putting on ounces everyday and my clothes are fitting more snuggly, I still feel the same as I did a week ago. 

I know that any day now, my bump will start growing by leaps and bounds. When I was trying on maternity clothes, they had a pillow that was supposed to mimic how I’d look 3 months from now, and it wasn’t pretty. It probably didn’t help that the pillow was old and lumpy, but the sheer size alone was overwhelming. 

My Mom was beside herself laughing at the freaked out look on my face. And that was only how I’m supposed to look 7 ½ months pregnant. Who knows how enormous I’ll look when 9 months rolls around. I doubt I’ll be able to walk. 

But for now, baby is weighing less than a pound (about the size of an heirloom tomato), and protruding from my body ever so slightly. Here is a glimpse:

 Thanks again to my Mom for taking my bump photos! Jonathan is set to arrive in New Orleans in about an hour, so he should be able to resume photography duties this week. Next Wednesday's photo will be taken at the *beach*, so I'm pretty excited to flaunt my baby bump in a sweater dress while on the white sands of Orange Beach. *Sarcasm*. 

Tomorrow we head to Nola for wedding festivities and from the wedding we will leave for our beach trip, so I'm sure my posting will be pretty intermittent for the next week or so. But hey, you should be used to that by now.

Nursery Purchases

While the first few days of my home visit were spent shopping and finalizing my registry, the past few days have been spent online shopping- searching the ends of the internet for those perfect nursery decorations. 

Over the past 3 days I have probably spent a total of 10 hours perusing Etsy for every cloud, hot air balloon, and sky themed object that could possibly help bring my nursery dreams to life. If you are my pinterest follower, I apologize for the seemingly repetitive nature of my recent pinning behavior. Here are just a few of the adorable items I found: 

Month 1-12 onsies for the all important monthly photos (which you can bet I’ll be featuring on the blog). 

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Decoupage frames and piggy banks with hot air balloon motifs.  

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Balloon wall hook. 

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Balloon clock. 

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Cloud shelves, which also come in gray and blue, which is good since the walls in the nursery are white. 

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Adorable personalized art prints. pillows and wall hangings. 

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And while we love the sky theme and all things cloud, star, sun, and balloon related, we aren’t going to limit ourselves to trying to make everything fit cohesively. For instance, we are all animal lovers in my family, so I’d like to bring in some wildlife. Two of the names we are considering start with ‘F’ and ‘H’. How cute are these initial prints?  

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And here just some general personalized items and other objects of overwhelming cuteness. Warning: Baby Fever may ensue:

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These are all little details, but we are looking for a large (poster sized) pastel balloon print, so if you see anything that might fit the description, feel free to pass the info along!

Highs and Lows: Anniversary Edition

I'm a little late posting today, so let’s hop straight into it. 

Lows: 

1) Yesterday was Jonathan and I’s 5^th anniversary. Hands down, the low of my week was being away from him at this time. 

Still had flowers sent to me in Louisiana. Such a sweetheart.

This separation is made even harder by the fact that Jonathan was away on business the week before I left for America, giving us only 12 hours together before I was headed to the airport. 

I am missing him bad. During our engagement and for about the first year of our marriage, Jonathan worked a rotational schedule. He’d be home for 2 weeks, and then away for two weeks. We learned during that time not to prescribe too much meaning to sentimental dates. 

During our first year of marriage, I was alone for my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It was very hard on me at the time, but I feel like it started preparing me to be flexible and to stop placing so much pressure on certain holidays or anniversaries. 

Still, the 5^th anniversary is a big one, and it stings a bit to be apart. So that’s my biggest low of the week. But it’s been balanced out by some pretty big highs.

Highs:

1) Yesterday when I woke up, I felt the baby kicking for the first time. I think. It’s hard to be sure but it definitely matched the fluttering sensation that it’s been described to me as. It happened a few times throughout the morning, sending a silent thrill straight to my heart. I felt the same sensation a few times today which makes me more confident that it's baby kicks that I'm feeling.

Pregnancy has always weirded me out, so I was anxious about how I’d feel being faced with the reality that there is a teeny-tiny human taking up residence in my belly. Turns out the first kicks are quite pleasant, though I’m sure our little soccer player will get much more rough as the weeks progress. 

2) My BFF Talia, who is an OBGYN in New Orleans, took me up to her hospital to do a personal ultrasound. 

Me and Dr. Talia

This was such a neat experience, to explore every aspect of my baby with someone who already loves and cherishes them. She confirmed that our baby is totally beautiful and developing perfectly. She also knows the gender, although I had my eyes closed during this part of the scan. 

My intuition is starting to get very strong about what sex our baby will be. I think that my hunches were pretty much non-existent before yesterday, but my current intuition more so comes from knowing Talia so well, and being able to discern subtle things from her that gave me an idea of what color balloons to expect at our gender reveal party. So what do I think jelly bean will be? I’ll never tell!  

Baby is still measuring right at Oct 23, and is weighing in at 52% percentile for a baby at 18 weeks in utero. So basically, so far our baby is textbook. Which makes sense, since Jon and I are both such nerds. 

The limbs were measuring slightly long, so hopefully that means he or she have inherited Jonathan’s tall genes. There is a 13 inch difference in our heights, so it could really go either way. 

Jonathan and I look so different that it’s very hard to imagine what our child will look like. Will they have blonde hair and fair skin? Dark hair and olive skin? Be tall and lean or petite and athletic? 

One thing that we’re pretty confident about is that our baby will have blue-green eyes. Jonathan and I freakishly have the exact same color eyes, and our parents as well have either green or blue eyes, making us pretty certain than a brown eyed baby isn’t in our future. 

It’s a shame too, because I’ve always had a weakness for big brown eyes. I guess Samson will remain the only brown eyed baby in my life. 

Even Bailey has green eyes to match the rest of the family. 

3) Getting my tan on. 

I’ve been getting out in the sunshine for about 45 minutes everyday. Just reading a book while soaking up the rays has been such a welcome change from the typically cool temperatures and overcast skies of Aberdeen.  Only about a week until we’re heading to the Gulf Coast for some beach time. I can’t wait! 

4) Family mahjong nights. 

We’ve been getting in a few games every night which I am loving. Last night, when I got back from New Orleans, my parents were already sitting at the mahjong table with the tiles set up, ready to play. 

I love them so much and I’m glad they’ve really taken to this game that has slowly taken over my life. 

5) Movie date with my dad to see The Great Gatsby. 

I’ve been waiting in anticipation for this movie ever since I heard that Leo was cast as the elusive Gatsby. It definitely lived up to my highest expectations, and I’m glad I got to share the blockbuster experience with my Dad. 

All in all, it’s been a really great week. I miss my hubby and wish he would have been here to celebrate our anniversary, be present at the ultrasound, and shop for all things baby. But it’s been such a special time with some of my very best friends and my parents that I’m halfway glad I got to come before Jonathan arrived and soak them up all by myself.

Calling Baton Rouge

Jet lag is a beast, y’all. I’ve been waking up at 4 am, exhausted, but unable to fall back asleep. The safety of my beloved melatonin is untested in pregnant women, so although I’m sure it’s completely fine, I’m still hesitant to take a full dose.  The result is a jetlagged and pregnant Laine, which basically means that I am a walking zombie. 

So yesterday, when I was supposed to be running around Baton Rouge shopping and visiting old pals, I was instead lying listless on my grandparents’ couch. I ended up squeezing in a cat nap while my grandma was watching General Hospital which at least gave me enough energy to go meet up with April for a delicious sushi meal at Drunken Fish, one of my favorite college eating spots. 

Don’t worry, I only ordered deep fried rolls which are perfectly safe for a pregnant lady to enjoy.  Even April agreed that Drunken Fish really stepped up their game last night, and it was the most delicious meal I’ve had in a while. Craving satisfied.

After sushi, we got ice cream and rented Beautiful Creatures, a surprisingly good film. So good that I bought the book directly afterward, assuming that it’ll be even better than the movie. 

I crashed at April’s place and ended up getting a full night’s sleep! I felt amazing this morning. So amazing that I headed to her apartment gym for an hour long cardio workout that left me feeling completely restored (and less guilty about the deep fried sushi and ice cream binge the night before). 

While staying at April’s, I got a sneak peak at the cloud and hot air balloon mobile that she’s making for the baby. She also started making her case that she’ll be the best Aunt ever, by gifting baby jelly bean this Louisiana seasons onsie, this textured woodland animals baby cloth that he sister made for me, and a pastel yellow picture frame to go in the nursery. 

So even if my road trip to BR wasn’t the most productive, at least I got some quality time with my BFF and some awesome baby gifts out of it. Thanks for letting me crash, April! Sushi, ice cream, and a slumber party was just what I needed to get me out of my jetlag funk and on the road to sleep recovery. 

Tomorrow, I’ll be heading to New Orleans to see my other BFF, her sweet baby boy, and maybe even a sneak peek at my own baby jelly bean. I'll keep you posted!