Week 33

A belated Merry Christmas! BN had a wonderful Christmas filled with plenty of family, friends and FOOD! And filled with tons of gifts! Our BuyBuyBaby registry does not have 1 single item left on it and I think Babies R Us has a tube of Desitin left - that's it! We are very thankful and lucky to have such wonderful Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles for the Chief :)

Went to the doctor last Friday and everything is still going well. Heartbeat strong, my uterus is measuring right on target and baby's head in down in the ready position. We'll see if that remains the case over these last 7 weeks. Below is a picture of our Baby Pineapple! He weighs approx 4-4.5 lbs and pretty much at her birth length.

Drop the Baby

I must say, it's been quite some time since I've had a dream about failing as a parent, but last night changed that. I dreamt we had the baby and were sitting with him in the family room. He started to get fussy so I told Andrew I would take him and put him down for a nap. I take the baby out of his arms and suddenly the baby weighs the same as about 4 sacks of potatoes and I can't lift him up at all. I manage to lift him up by his feet, which resulted in his head swinging down and bouncing (yes bouncing) off the floor. Awesome. I'm going to be so good at this Mom thing...

Week 33 and Christmas recap coming soon!

Week 31 & 32

Week 32 - Baby Jicama :)

Week 31 - This week we had a baby the weight of 4 navel oranges. Been a busy week around here but there have been a few Chief related happenings to mention. First, the other night when getting into bed, I could feel the baby making a lot of short rhythmic movements that I know were not hiccups. I had Andrew feel too and we determined it was BN taking some practice breaths in there. It was an awesome moment to feel our baby "breathing" and made him/her seem that much closer to coming out to meet us!

Secondly, the other day I went to a work event and spent a couple hours walking around a tradeshow floor...in heels. While this really is never a completely pleasant experience, I found myself tiring a lot sooner than usual and even had to tell my boss I needed to pull the "pregnant card" and take a break. This was one of the first times when I had to realized I need to start slowing down a bit from time to time, or maybe just switch to flats. So, after having a day of feeling pretty pregnant, I was feeling pretty confident when stepping into a crowded train car that someone would notice my belly and give up their seat for me. But I got nothing. I even really relaxed to let my tummy push out a bit more, but still no takers. I guess my belly isn't as noticable in my coat as I thought - just kind of funny that after a pregnant feeling afternoon,  I was quickly snapped back into "normal" people reality. Maybe if I ride the train again in a month I'll have better luck.

Welcomed Distractions

So this afternoon I lost about 15 minutes of productivity at work to just sit and stare at my stomach. Little Chief was going to town in there today and not sure I've ever seen my entire tummy shake, shift and twist so much before. If someone were to have walked past my office they would have seen me smiling down at my tummy like a crazy freak but I don't really care. Anyhoo, just makes me more and more excited to meet this little nugget in just over 2 months!

Week 30

Another week down, and with that comes another cabbage baby. This time instead of a Chinese cabbage, we've got a head of cabbage. Chief is about 3lbs and 17 inches long from head to toe! I can tell the little one is starting to fill out his/her surroundings as kicks and flips about are being replaced by slow rolls and lots of pressing up against my tummy.

Today was a special day of celebrating Baby Noble at our baby shower! Thank you to all of our family and friends for all of the wonderful gifts! We are so excited to get the nursery together and get things put away and ready to go for little BN. Special thanks to Grandma Paulette for all of the hard work planning the shower- everything was perfect :)

Here is the week 30 belly and a few pics from the shower!

Week 29

Here is our butternut squash for the week! BN had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Noble's house for Thanksgiving. (S)he was moving all day long and Grandma got to feel him move and then everyone got to see her flipping around in my tummy while we were watching tv. Went to the doctor on Monday and everything looks great! Measuring right on track and heartbeat was "perfect." I'll now start going to the doctor every 2 weeks which is very exciting.

In other exciting news, BN has a new nickname because Andrew has developed a bad habit of referring to the baby as "it". He says it's too hard to say "he/she" and BN sounds like "bien" so I told him he could call the baby anything else he wanted. We first gave the name Sugar a try, but that didn't stick so guess what Mr. Illini game up with next? Big shocker but we now refer to BN as Chief :) Not sure how well that would work out if BN turns out to be a girl, but if BN is a boy, I can definitely see the nickname sticking around for a long time.

Patterns

For the past week or so, BN's movements have followed a pattern of: 1-2 days of little movement (causing me to spend all day nudging my tummy around to get him/her moving, freak out and scan the baby center blog for posts from others experiencing the same thing, and emailing Andrew with "why isn't the baby moving more?!" emails), followed by 1-2 days of crazy movement. And repeat. Currently we are having a day where the kid won't sit still. Seriously, as I try to write this post the baby has been moving non stop for like 15 minutes. So, I'm a happy girl today just sitting her watching my belly shake and twitch all over the place but how about a little more consistency baby? Hopefully BN will break the habit and cooperate on Thanksgiving so Gma and Gpa Noble can say hello!

Week 28

3rd trimester, wooohooo! Here is our baby Chinese cabbage :)

Week 27

Last week in the 2nd trimester, woot! We have 3 months to go and still a lot to do to get ready for our little cauliflower's arrival, but it's so exciting to be entering into the last stage of pregnancy. Bring on the huge belly, swollen feet and all of the other end of pregnancy joys. Yes I know, check back with me in about 10 weeks and I'm sure I'll be posting about how miserable I am, but right now it sounds fun so just let me be.  February can't come soon enough!

Week 26

Here is a pic of our little cucumber. I just looked back and week 20 and there has been quite a bit of growth in the bump over the past 6 weeks...or maybe even just since last week?!  Went to the doctor last Friday and everything was good. Measuring at 27 weeks (doc said that was fine) and heartbeat was an estimated 140-150.

There have been a couple nights where we'll sit and watch my stomach move with BN's twists and turns. It's pretty cool but also kinda makes me feel like there is a little alien living inside me. And today BN and I had a fun little interaction at work. I could feel him/her pressed up against the right side of my tummy (this baby loves the right side of my tummy) so I put my hand over the bulge and gave a little nudge to say hi...and I got a hi nudge right back :) As soon as I got home tonight, there was BN right back in the same spot so I had Andrew give a nudge...and he got a nudge too. I love that we can talk to eachother while (s)he's cooking away in there.



Little Gymnast

My favorite time of day is quickly becoming 9-10pm, as that is when little BN loves to show off his/her gymnastic skills. 99.9% of the time I'm laying on Andrew on the couch during this time so it's great for him to be able to feel the baby flipping around like crazy in there. Last night, BN was on fire and for a good 30 mins (s)he was going nuts in there. At one point Andrew swears he felt a tiny hand press up against my belly and he and BN were "holding hands." These antics continued on to bed time and I got another 20 minute show before I started rubbing my belly and trying to shush the baby so I could fall asleep :) I think BN is pretty tuckered out today from all that tumbling as (s)he's been pretty quiet so far today. Can't wait for the show tonight!

Happy Hiccups!

I've been trying to wait patiently to feel some of BN's hiccups, and last night I successfuly felt not 1, but 2 episodes of hiccups! First one came while just relaxing on the couch before bed and the second one was about 3am this morning. I couldn't sleep so I selfishly tried to wake BN up to play for a bit and what I got in return was about 20 mins of straight kicks, flips, rolls and hiccups. I'd like to think she was excited to talk to me at such an odd hour of the day vs mad at me for waking him up!

Week 25

Here is our baby rutabaga - what the hell is a rutabaga? Also threw in a few pics from our pumpkin carve-off on Friday night. Bet you can't guess which pumpkin AJN did? That's right, he did a kitty face inspired by his favorite cat, Lucy.

Week 25 - Baby Rutabaga

Rachel Zoe

I am dedicating this post to Katie Wiemer. Yesterday we got into an email conversation about how Rachel Zoe's infant son was not properly placed in his car seat, with the top straps down around his belly vs. in line with his armpits. I watch Rachel Zoe, but did I catch this Mommy no-no? Of course not. Anyhoo, fast forward to last night where I had a dream of repeating PSAs from celebrities such as Kelly Clarkson and Steven Tyler educating me on proper infant seat installation and how to correctly position and secure your baby. I've got it down now, thanks KDW :)

Week 24

Week 24 - Baby Ear of Corn

23 Week Belly

Nothing much to report this week. As I type this, BN is moving and grooving in there. A few times I've been able to see and feel a bulge in my belly and it's super crazy to me that I'm feeling my baby's little head or booty or some other body part!

Week 23 - Baby Large Mango

Cover Blown

I have been doing a good job of making my pre-pregnancy wardrobe work for my M-F needs. I'm talking tops here - pants I surrended to elastic waistbands weeks ago. However, over the past week this task has become increasingly difficult as the items that fall into the "make it work" category have become fewer and fewer right before my eyes. So this morning after somewhat comically trying to force myself into 3 different too small shirts, I gave up and put on my first maternity work shirt. I felt very exposed like "hey look at me, I'm preggers" and wouldn't you know it, my co-workers have been all over it. At least 3 of the ladies have stopped to say "oh, is that a maternity shirt?!" 2 have come by my office just to see how I'm feeling and I encountered another in the bathroom that said "I'm not surprised to see you here!" I told one of them I felt like a house today and her response was "You feel like a house b/c you are home to a new life." Well played, Marie :)

Obviously I'm by no means trying to hide the fact that I'm pregnant, it's just very strange to me to be finally showcasing it. I suppose I should just get used to it as it's only going to become more apparent in the months ahead.

BN's First Photo Shoot!

Here are some of the pics from the ultrasound on Friday. Sorry the quality isn't the greatest, apparently my office needs a better scanner. Pics below are best profile shot followed by the yawn (aka ghost baby), spine and feet.

I would also like to point out that at no point during the ultrasound did I think "just tell us boy or girl!" nor did I spend all weekend thinking that I wish we would have found out. Andrew said the ultrasound has sparked his curiousity and wanted to do the chain test this weekend but I wouldn't allow it :)

Belly Update

Week 22 - Baby Spaghetti Squash

Week 21 - Baby Carrot

20 Week Ultrasound (a day shy of 22 weeks)

This morning we got to see our little guy or girl up on the big screen for our 20 week anatomy scan. BN was a champ and is growing and developing right on track which is obviously wonderful news! BN weighs 1lb 1oz right now and was busy moving around, crossing his/her legs, putting his/her hand on their knee throughout the scan. The tech also pointed out that I have a little copycat, as the baby was mimicking my position with one arm bent up behind their head. Later she still hadn't gotten a good look at that arm so I suggested that I move my arm down and sure enough shortly after that so did BN :) We also got a great action shot of a yawn which was so damn cute and sweet and made little BN seem that much more like a living baby.
We got some good pics which I will try to post this weekend along with updated belly pics. YAY FOR BN!!!

Daddy Meets the Peanut

Since hitting 20 weeks on Sat, little BN has been very active in my tummy with lots of little taps and kicks hello. Most of the time I've felt them Andrew has been at work or in a deep sleep in the middle of the night, so we've only tried a couple times for him to be able to feel something. And everytime, once he puts his hand on my belly, the stinker stops. But last night after we got into bed I started to feel some real good ones so I woke him up and he was able to feel a good 2-3 taps from our little banana. So cool :)

20 Weeks - Halfway there!

It's been a couple weeks since I've updated. I've been crazy busy with work and just got back from San Diego yesterday. Baby Noble was a real trooper throughout the busy week and helped me get through the loooong week and late nights. Anyhoo, we've reached the halfway point! I have very few complaints about the first half of pregnancy and can't wait for all of the changes these next 20 weeks will bring! My bump is definitely coming out and I am starting to think maternity clothes and more importantly elastic waistbands, are the way to go. I am feeling little taps pretty much every day usually after meals and late at night and love those little moments when our little guy or gal is giving me a quick hello to let me know (s)he's in there :)

Week 20 - Baby Banana

Week 19 - Baby Tomato

Legit!

No more guessing, last night I 100% felt the baby! I was sitting on the couch with my hand on my belly and suddenly felt a few of the little "pops" I had been feeling followed by 2-3 legit rolls and kicks! These were much stronger and more intense than the pops so there was no doubt about it. It caught me by surprise that I started gasping/making weird noises and I freaked Andrew out until I explained what was happening. We tried to see if he could feel but of course it didn't happen again. It really was an indescribable moment and I really do feel more connected to the baby now that I know (s)he's for sure in there! Can't wait for it to happen again! Love you Baby Bell Pepper!

Week 18 - Baby Bell Pepper

Week 17 - Baby Turnip

Little Love Taps?

Unfortunately, it has been pretty consistent that after my 2am bathroom break, I cannot fall asleep and am up anywhere from an hour to 2 hours just flopping around trying desperately to fall back asleep. I usually do around 4am which usually means that when the alarm goes off at 6am I opt to sleep for another hour vs. get up and exercise. BUT, last night during my latest bout with insomnia I felt a series of 3-4 faint little taps down in my belly! I put my hand over that spot and it of course stopped (little stinker) but then driving to work this morning while I was thinking about the taps I felt another one :)

These felt different than what I felt a couple of weeks ago, so NOW I'm convinced I was crazy then and this time it was the baby. I'm sure in another week or so I'll have another theory...but for today, I'm going with that I felt little BN and it was an awesome feeling :)

Expanding

The belly is coming! Still haven't exactly "popped" but on Monday at the Cub game I did wear my first belly band with my jeans, and today at work I def have the button undone on my pants :) Perhaps it was my over-indulgent holiday weekend filled with pizza, cookies, burgers and Olive Garden (yikes) but I like to think it's a good growth spurt by the little turnip. will get week 17 pic posted soon.

Future Kelly Clarkson Fan?

I was just sitting here at work listening to the new Kelly Clarkson single (album drops Oct. 25th YAY) and not going to lie, I was trying my hardest to will the baby to give me a little poke or nudge to let me know heshe was there. It would be pretty damn perfect if I could say one of the first times I felt the baby move was during a Kelly Clarkson song. Sadly, that did not happen. But I am not too discouraged - once I get a hold of that cd come late October, I'll have over 3 months to turn this baby into Kelly's #1 in utero fan :)

Week 16

This past weekend, BN had a wonderful time at Auntie Erin's wedding out in Vermont! He/she allowed me to fit into my dress without any alterations, although did make his/her presence known in some of the photos. Due to stupid Hurricane Irene, we ended up leaving as soon as the reception was over to try and beat the rain and drove all the way home. But it really wasn't too terrible and I did a fairly decent job of controlling my bladder over the 15 hour drive. Others in the car would possibly disagree with me and think that peeing every 2 hours is a bit excessive, but at least I gave everyone a reason to get out and stretch every couple of hours.

Other than that, clothes are starting to get a bit tighter. I think I probably have another week or so with my jeans before I'll need to bust out the belly band. I've convinced myself (with the help of Kristy) that I did feel 1 punch late last week, but nothing since. Hoping with this growth spurt BN is going to have over the next few weeks I'll start to feel something soon!!

Week 16 - Baby Avocado

Weekly Updates

Week 15 - Baby Apple

Week 14 - Baby Lemon

The Break-Up

Last night I said goodbye to a very dear friend. Someone who has been with me through countless happy, sad, frustrating and exciting times. Someone who has made me feel safe and secure at all times and has been a source of pride and accomplishment for me over the past 5 years. Last night, I broke up with Heidi Honda. I knew this day was coming, but it happened sooner than both of us thought and I don't think I was quite prepared. Judging by the tears I shed in the middle of the car dealership, I know I was not prepared. But, we had a few last moments together and I thanked her for being such a good friend, and that my wish for her is to find a new friend that will appreciate her and tell her how cute and pretty she is all the time. In the end, I know this is for the best for us and baby Apple, and I am very excited to see how my new friendship with Eddie Equinox develops over the years to come :)

Ho Hum

While I know the little lemon is busy growing and developing like crazy in there, nothing really seems to be happening with me. I am trying to be patient and wait for the true bump to start and my first feel of BN moving around in there, but I'm getting anxious. I realize it's still early and I also realize that I should be careful with what I wish for, as I know there will be many days where I am up at night with jabs to the ribs, or so miserable and uncomfortable with my huge belly that I'll just want the lemon OUT. So for now, I'll continue to be patient and just enjoy feeling good/normal :)

Starting Early

No, I am not talking about my belly (which I know is also starting thanks to some of you pointing that out in the weekly pictures), but ill prepared motherhood dreams. Last night I dreamt that I had the baby and was on the phone with P who was saying she would give us a few days to get settled and would then come up and stay a few days with us. I told her I wasn't sure if it was necessary b/c the baby was already sleeping through the night! Sa-weet! There was a long pause on the other end which then got me thinking:

1. Had I been remembering to feed the baby before putting him/her to bed?
2. Where was the baby sleeping? I think I was putting the baby downstairs while we were sleeping upstairs. The poor thing could have been screaming all night and we just didn't hear!
3. Come to think of it...where is the baby now?!?! I had no idea.

Hopefully I can get all of this poor parenting out via my crazy dreams so we are ready to go come Feb. Although I like to think we can handle feeding and keep track of the baby's whereabouts at all times.

Guessing Fun!

Ok, I think I set this up correctly: http://www.expectnet.com/games/OurLittleValentine
Due date is Feb. 11th and we are NOT finding out so you'll have to wait a while to see if your guess is right!

13 Weeks!

I'm in the LAST WEEK of the first trimester and thought I should document how pregnant life has been treating me so far:


I feel great! I have had some fatigue, which is definitely getting better, but I was soo lucky to avoid the dreaded nausea and morning sickness. No crazy smells or cravings, although I have noticed that some food aversion has seemed to kick in within the last week or so. Vegetables never sound good to me and all food has to have the right consistency or it hits the trash.


I have already had some craaazy dreams, which I love. I have always had very vivid, detailed dreams and now being pregnant, they seem to happen every single night! Some of them are not so pleasant though - last week I dreamt I was at my old house in Crete and Andrew was chasing me around with a knife attempting to stab me, and last night I dreamt that vampires (not Cullen vampires, Kathy) were trying to get me and change me. I think that one is b/c of the new Collin Farrel movie that is coming out...


We've had a few episodes I will attribute to an "overactive" utuerus, but BN has been a trooper and is doing great so far. Heathly heartbeat and measuring right on schedule. This week he/she is the size of a peach or a shrimp. If you combine those two, we have a little baby pimp :)


Here are some "belly" pics so far. Not much going on yet - just some bloat and my waist is def starting to thicken out. Here is week 11-13. Fear not, I will not be showing bare skin for much longer :) Actually now that I am seeing them all in a row, maybe there is a little something starting? Or I've just been eating too much mac n cheese...

Week 13

Week 12

We're Live!

This marks my first blog post ever and it's a fun one b/c...I'm pregnant! Andrew and I are so excited to welcome Baby Noble come Feb. 2012!

We found out June 5th while vacationing in Greece. We had just checked into our hotel in Mykonos, but my monthly visitor had NOT checked in yet so I decided to chug some water at lunch and take a test (points for me, I had packed some with us). I waited the 3 minutes and then went in the bathroom to find 2 strong lines indicated I was preggo. I honestly couldn't believe it and could only manage to say "Holy shit!!" Andrew asked "What, it's negative?" Why "holy shit" would make him think it was negative I'll never understand, but then I said "um, no it's positive! I'm pregnant!"

We stood there for a while trying to wrap our heads around it all and finally Andrew says "well I guess we should hug?!" Even though we were trying and were hoping this would be the outcome, neither one of us thought we would be so lucky so fast. We then spent the rest of the day by the pool talking about everything, making plans, and then went out for a nice dinner. Once back at our hotel, Andrew opened a bottle of wine to celebrate. Side note: of course EVERY single hotel we stayed in gave us free booze when we checked in. Free booze Andrew was left to drink by himself :)

Being together in Greece was the perfect way to find out we were going to become a family of three. It was similar to when we got engaged on a cruise - it was just us, no phones to distract us, and allowed us time together to celebrate and have our own little secret for a while :)