Happy V Day!

This past week I mentally celebrated V-Day!  What is V-Day, you ask?  Well, medically speaking, making it to 24 weeks is definitely something to celebrate.  24 weeks = viability.  Basically, once you are at least 24 weeks pregnant, doctors will fight tooth and nail to save a baby because it’s considered viable at this point.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I realize that if something were to happen this early, we are in no way close to being out of the woods.  But still, I’m celebrating every milestone there is. J

We also had our 24-week checkup this week and it was great!  Hearing that sweet heartbeat NEVER gets old, and I kicked the scale’s butt, or rather let it know I could care less about what number it wanted to spit back at me. J  Now it’s a long, 4 week wait until we go back.  Soon, though, we’ll only have two weeks between appointments, which will be much better!

In other exciting news, I had my last day of work this week until August 10^th!  And while I’d like to think that I can kick my feet up and relax until then, I still have quite a few grad school projects to tackle over the next month.  I’ve made an end-of-grad-school checklist (you know I love my check-off boxes!), and it’s motivating me to get things done quickly so I can be FINISHED as a student for the rest of my life!

In even MORE exciting news, my awesome hub set up the crib this week!  I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, because he seemed pretty content to be setting up his son’s/daughter’s room… which I will never forget. J

Hard at work!

Isn't he cute?!

The finished product!

We still have a long way to go in terms of home improvement, and we’d like to get it all finished by the time we go to the beach, which is only a month away!  Yikes!

After finishing work on Wednesday, I gave myself a 4 day hiatus from all things productive and we headed to Charleston on Friday.  One of my friends from high school was getting married (Congrats Brooke!), so we took the opportunity to go stay with my brother and sister-in-law and hang out with my parents, stepbrother, and little sister.  We had a blast!  I unveiled the baby bump in a bikini at the pool (yikes!), got my fill of boiled peanuts (thanks Mom and Big D!), and enjoyed seeing Brooke tie the knot.

Ok people - I'm being brave, and baring it all for you!  (Somebody needs a TAN.)

What a beautiful bride!

Me & my hub :)

My wonderful parents!

Some old, dear friends!  (Please excuse the scary picture of me - It was VERY hot and VERY windy, hence the "I got hit by the ugly truck" look.)

I must say that the weekend kicked my butt – driving riding home today, I was EXHAUSTED.  So hub and I decided to have a relaxing night in – we took Bailey for a walk, then ordered a pizza from this place that makes it for you, then you cook it at home.  Well, hub asked if I wanted to try the stuffed crust pizza.  Sure!  (I’m never one to turn down extra bread and cheese.)  Well, he picks it up, comes home to cook it, and this is what I find in the oven.

It’s a STUFFED PIZZA… as in, the entire pizza is stuffed – like two pizzas in one.  Like cheese, bread, stuffings, bread.  Needless to say, it was delicious.  And yes, there are leftovers, thank-you-very-much.

Our little bug appears to be doing well in my ever-expanding tummy.  This morning he/she was actually moving so much, it woke me up!  And I’m pretty sure I could tell the kicks from the punches.  I’m feeling a little more hormonal these days and like I’m housing a little shorter of a fuse (love you honey!) – but I really, really try to not let it get the best of me.  We decided to discuss baby names again, and things are back to being sort of up in the air.  Naming a human being is so hard!  But when we decide on our names, we’ll know they’re right. J

By the way, I am LOVING green beans right now.

Happy V Day bug!!

24 Weeks!

24 Weeks Covered Up!

Three

That’s how many people asked me today about my baby!!  Why am I so excited?!  Because I think I’ve officially made the turn from pudgy, to pudgier, to baby bump.  Obviously the people who know I’m pregnant can see a definite bump.  But these were complete strangers, out in public, asking me about when I was due!!  It may be because I finally crawled out of my grad school hole long enough to take the baby bump out in public, but I have to admit that being visibly pregnant is very exciting. J

Beyond the excitement, my most recent moments of neurosis have to do with me analyzing and overanalyzing the size of my belly.  Looking at it in the mirror from every angle, in every light, trying to figure out if it’s getting smaller.  Yep, that’s my new worry of the moment – that my belly is in fact not growing, but shrinking.  Is there ever a dull moment in my brain?!  Yeesh.  If only my brain would give my blood pressure a break.  The funny thing is that at my 20 week appointment, my belly was measuring 23cm.  (For those of you unaware of the pregnant-lady belly measurements, the doc measures your belly at each appointment.  In theory, the measurement should correspond to the number of weeks you are pregnant.)  So now that I’ve explained it all so clearly, you can see that my belly was measuring 3cm or 3 weeks big.  The doctor wasn’t concerned at all, said there’s quite a range it can fall between.  Plus I’ve always had a pretty short, square torso, which I think explains why I started showing so early.

Anywho, why the heck am I overanalyzing the size of my belly when last time I checked it was measuring big?  Who knows.  If it’s not one thing, it’s another.  I’m trying to understand that our bodies go through spurts during pregnancy – gain 1 pound here, gain 10 pounds there, grow 4 cm here, grow 1 cm there.  But thank goodness I go for my monthly check up this week, so I can get some peace of mind.  (Which will probably only last for the hour or so following the appointment. J)

As I’ve written about over and over, I simply cannot get enough of feeling the little one move.  On Saturday morning I woke up, sat up, and half of my belly was gone.  No, this is not me overanalyzing again – literally, my baby bump was completely lopsided.  I woke my hub up, and we realized that the baby was laying all the way toward the left of my stomach.  You could literally feel the little body pressed up against that side of my belly!  It was so cool!  My hub kept poking at the bug, trying to get him/her to move, and he/she definitely started wiggling around.  Though I think he/she was quite annoyed, because he's/she’s since flipped around with his/her back facing out and is only kicking me from the outside in - toward my pelvic bone and toward my back.

In other EXCITING news, I got the invitation to my baby shower!!!  My sisters have been planning their little hearts out, and the theme was a secret until the invitation came in the mail.

It’s going to be Baby Peele’s Sweet Shop!  I can’t wait!!

This weekend, we also got to celebrate the hub’s first Father’s Day, or Father-to-be Day.  I wanted to do a little something for him, so I got up early Sunday morning and made him some homemade donuts to serve him breakfast in bed.  YES, they were for him, despite my post about mashed potatoes and donuts a few weeks ago. J  I must say, they were DELICIOUS!

Some were cinnamon sugar, some were powdered sugar

Bailey trying to sneak a donut... She ended up with a head full of powdered sugar!

Busted.

I also got him the baby a little apron that says, “Dad’s Little Helper” with the Wake Forest logo.  Unfortunately, it won’t be here until tomorrow, so I just wrapped up a picture of it.

Other than my neurotic brain, a lopsided stomach, homemade donuts, and a kid’s apron, we’ve just been truckin’ along in the Peele house.  I have THREE more days of work before summer break starts, and I’ll be done with grad school in a little over a month.  We’re still running full speed ahead with the home improvement projects – Hub installed lights in my closet and in the nursery closet.  Next up we hope to clear out the nursery so we can start putting the furniture together!

By the way, I’m finally getting my homemade, grilled out burger tonight via Fresh Market and the hub/grill master.  Based on the homemade donuts and bacon cheeseburger, I’m obviously not too concerned about tomorrow’s inevitable weigh-in. J

P.S.  Have you heard about McDonald’s new Rolo McFlurry?!  DIVINE!!!

P.P.S.  In case you're wondering about the progress of my belly button, it still hasn't popped yet.  But it's getting more and more shallow!

23 Weeks!

23 Weeks in horizontal stripes!  (Hub says this shirt does make my belly look smaller... that REALLY helped my neurosis!)

Bailey trying to sneak in the bump picture... (I know, nice slippers, huh?)

I think someone is already jealous!!

Guerilla Warfare

As I got dressed today my hub walked in while I was strapping on my over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder.  I understand that term is cheesy, and outdated, but I’m only referring to it as that because these days, that’s exactly what it looks like.  His words were, “Geez, you look like you’re getting strapped in for guerilla warfare.”  Oh, the joys of pregnancy clothes, especially undergarments. J

I’ve got to make this one short because the day has gotten away from me and I still have tons to do before dinner.  A dinner I am SO looking forward to by the way.  You see, last week at school one of the secretaries was eating the most delicious-looking cheeseburger I have ever seen… and I’ve been dreaming about it since then.  So I asked my hub yesterday if we he could grill out burgers tonight, which he quickly agreed to do; however, we’ve both been running around like crazy today between grad school work and home improvement tasks, so we just decided to scrap the whole making dinner ourselves bit and we’re headed to 5 Guys very shortly.  Thank goodness I went on a 4-mile walk today and almost died in the heat.

I’ve had a heck of a week, and I am counting down the days until life slows down a bit.  Two more days of school with kids, six more days of work after that, and a month and a half left of grad school.  The end of July cannot come soon enough!  The worst part of this week was that I had my School Administrators Licensure exam on Saturday.  It was a doozie.  Though I’m not sure what was worse – the exam itself or not being able to eat or drink for five hours straight.  The website said we’d get a ten minute break between the 100 multiple choice and 7 essays – but I’m guessing our test administrator missed that memo.  So my water bottle and granola bar (and crackers and raisins and Sweettarts) sat lonely in my purse.  It was pure misery.  I won’t find out my results for a month, so in the meantime I’m attempting to stop overanalyzing whether I overanalyzed the questions and if I bubbled in everything correctly.

The best part about having the licensure exam was that my hub played Top Chef on Friday night.  Crab stuffed sirloin, bread, mashed potatoes (!!), and homemade Caesar salad – omigosh.  It was awesome and definitely made me smarter for the exam.

Back to the wardrobe front – I have been agonizing over finding a bathing suit for this summer.  You see, I bought a tankini, which my hub quickly let me know he was not a fan of – apparently he wants me to show off my belly with pride this summer!  Anywho, I finally ordered a bikini online in a few sizes larger than my normal clothes… and that was a disaster.  And a riot.  I quickly returned it and convinced my hub to help me find a bathing suit on Saturday night – and we found two!!  Hopefully they will last throughout the summer, especially for our family’s weeklong beach extravaganza in August.  I must admit that I am relieved to have found at least something to wear to cover up my bits.

I think the little one (now the size of a papaya, I might add!) liked the bathing suits, too… After we got home, he/she was putting on quite a little show and the hub got to SEE the baby move AND feel the little bug quite a few times!

Ok, off to my cheeseburger in paradise.  For the record, I found a healthy, delicious recipe for Greek chicken salad sandwiches that I made for my lunches this week, and I plan on having a salad for dinner tomorrow night… but in the meantime, I will certainly be enjoying my juicy cheeseburger and oh-so-greasy French fries. J

Smile Baby Peele!

22 Weeks!!

Mashed Potatoes and Donuts

So, this past week I had an undeniable craving for mashed potatoes with gravy and donuts.  Now, sometimes I’ll get a craving that will eventually subside; however, this one was here to stay.  I emailed my hub in the middle of the day on Friday telling him about my craving secretly hoping he’d show up with mashed potatoes and donuts, and his response was, “You are too much.”  And I have to agree.  Mashed potatoes and donuts?!  Really?!  Why can’t I crave like an apple, or carrots?!

Anywho, I still haven’t had a donut.  But on Friday night we decided to take the baby bump to the movies, and you’d better believe we stopped at KFC on the way so I could sneak in a side of mashed potatoes and gravy in my purse.  The good news?  It was delicious.  That bad news?  I still want more.

On to what’s important:  week one of the second half of pregnancy – Yahoo!  It’s all downhill from here (hopefully!), so the countdown begins… 19 weeks to go (IF I last all 40 weeks!).  The little one and I talk every morning while I drive to work, and I keep telling him/her to please stay in there for all 19 weeks because the hub and I have a LOT to do around the house to get ready to become a family of three. J

And boy are we in home improvement mode.  As most of you know, I could live and die by a checklist.  I LOVE making checklists.  With boxes beside each to-do.  There’s just something about checking off those boxes that is so gratifying.  So last week my hub says, “Hey, do you mind making a summer checklist for us?”  Um, do I MIND?!  I would be GLAD to.  And obviously I am rubbing off on him.  So far we’ve painted the den (and by we I mean he), purchased new living room furniture, mounted the television above the fireplace, and purchased a crib and dresser for the nursery.  We still have a LONG way to go, but doing things around the house is just so exciting!

On the pregnancy front, our little one was quite an active little thing on Saturday!  The hub has felt him/her quite a few times, and I’ve seen my stomach bulging from the outside on many, many occasions.  Let me just tell you, this is the coolest.thing.ever.  Feeling the punches and kicks and rolls just makes my day.  And the movements are only supposed to get stronger and more distinct from here on out – I can’t wait!  Today the movement has been a little different – I think the baby may have turned, because I’ve definitely felt movement, but it’s been more like kicks into my pelvic bone… very weird.

What hasn’t been so fun is the continuous, intense hip pain.  YEESH.  The giant spread must be on the go again, because for the past week or so it has been rough.  The pain literally wakes me up throughout the night every hour, on the hour.  But the good part of it is that when I wake up, I can usually feel the little bug moving around in there, so I just lie awake and revel in each little poke.  It’s like our little secret. J

I am also beginning to realize that running is probably pretty much over until after the little one arrives.  But let’s be real for a second, because you can’t really call what I’ve been doing running – it’s more like trotting.  Anyway, semantics aside, doing anything other than walking is starting to kill my back and give me sharp cramps.  I plan on asking the doc about the cramps, but they go away once I stop running.  As my hub says, it’s probably time to stick to walking.  I have to say, my sister-in-law pretty much ran up until she delivered and I have NO clue how she did it.  I always said I would be on a run when my water broke because I planned to keep it up the whole way through – riiiiiiight.

Well, I’m off to hit the books – I have my school administrator’s licensure exam next weekend, and the studying has got to continue. L  I’m trying to stay calm during this stressful time… 7 more days of school with kids, 6 more days of work after that, two months left of grad school – then it’s all about our soon-to-be family of three! J

Baby Peele... 21 Weeks!

Hub's friend asked me if I was sure I wasn't due in August... Yeesh!

Halfway There!!

First and foremost, YAY for being halfway through!!!  I cannot believe we’re at the halfway mark.  It’s all sort of gone by ridiculously fast and painstakingly slow.  When I’m in the moment, milestones that lie ahead seem soooo far away, yet when I look back at all we’ve accomplished – me and my little bug – it all seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye.

Our 20 week appointment this week was great.  Same ol’, same ol’.  Weight…Check.  (Yikes, by the way.)  Blood pressure…Check.  Pee in a cup…Check.  Listen to the perfect sound of our little one’s heartbeat…Check.  Pull out my sheet of questions…Check.  Reschedule in four weeks…Check and OH that-seems-too-far-away-are-you-SURE-you-don’t-need-me-to-come-back-sooner?!

At this appointment we also turned in our registration cards for the Lamaze, breastfeeding, and infant CPR classes.  How exciting!  I remember at our 8 week appointment they told us we’d register for those classes around 20 weeks, and I thought that seemed eons away – but, here we are!  Like I said, it’s simultaneously a snail’s pace and a racecar’s pace.

Now, back to the first part of every doctor’s appointment – the weight check.  Dun dun dun.  I feel like at every appointment Ryan Seacrest should be standing by the scale… “Dim the lights… it’s time for the results.”  Any woman who has ever been pregnant knows exactly what I’m talking about.

You see, back when I was not pregnant, I would look at every curvy pregnant body with envy, and gasp when pregnant women complained about how they looked or the weight they gained.  How could they complain?!  They were all so beautiful!  And duh, don’t you know you’re supposed to put on lbs when you’re growing a human being?!

And now, I’m one of them – and I totally get it.  At first, I would be anxious in a non-negative way to see what the scale said at each appointment.  At the last appointment, I had only gained one pound, and I was sure something was wrong.  How could I have gained one lonely pound when my stomach was poking out and my underwear didn’t fit anymore?!  But no worries, mama Jess – you’d make up for it soon enough.

At this last appointment, I was shocked at the number on the scale.  Now I can blame it on the fact that she wouldn’t let me do the whole pee-in-a-cup thing before the weigh in, or that this appointment was at 4:00pm compared to my last 8:00am appointment – but the truth is, it was the highest number I have ever seen on a scale that I was standing on.  (As I exclaimed during the Biggest Loser finale, “I weigh more than some of those contestants!”)

Now, I’m not naive – I do realize that being pregnant = weighing more than I ever have in my life.  But boy does it play a mental toll on you.  I’ve been exercising as much as physically possible during this crazy time of work/grad school and eating only when I’m hungry.  (Now, I probably could eat a little better – but I think half of the fun of being pregnant is letting yourself indulge in eating what you want, when you want it!)

But I’d be lying if I said that this week’s weigh-in didn’t rock my world a little bit.  I may have even shed a pitiful tear once I drove away from the doctor’s office (and was away from my hub).  I know, it’s ridiculous.  But, it’s the truth.

And now, I’m forcing myself to get to a MUCH better mental state about it all.  I am back to my tentative plan of wearing a bikini this summer to rock this baby bump.  And I definitely trust myself enough to know that post-pregnancy I will get back to a healthy weight.  While it may take quite a few months, and while I’ll never have the same body again, I realize that this is all a teeny tiny price to pay for the joy of creating a life.

Oh, on the non-weight front – I SAW my belly move from the outside yesterday while our bug was apparently having a dance party, AND my hub got to feel the little one kick today.  Yeah, in your face, weight gain.

Ok, time to go order a pizza. J  Enjoy the 20-week, halfway-there belly shots!

20 Weeks!!!!!!

20 Weeks from the front!

P.S.  This was 7 Weeks from the front!

20 Weeks - full body shot!

There IS an end to my belly button!!

If you’ve ever really looked at my belly button – which it’s kind of weird if you have (unless you’re my hub) – it’s like a never-ending cavern.  It’s always been questionably deep.  But lo and behold, there IS an end to the great big hole!  As my stomach gets bigger, the end of my belly button creeps closer and closer into view.  It’s kinda weird, or at least I think so.  My husband is anxiously waiting for the day that it finally pops out.  You see, when my older sister was pregnant, he was, for some reason, so interested in whether her belly button had popped out yet and if she saw it the moment that it did.  It ended up being quite a humorous conversation.  So now that he has his own wife’s pregnant belly to enjoy, I think he’ll probably find it entertaining to watch the flattening out of the belly button.  He’ll probably hold his breath for the POP of the button making its outward appearance… I hope it doesn’t disappoint and

WOAH my little baby just punched me in the stomach!  Holy cow!  That was awesome.  Just before I started typing I was thinking that I was still really enjoying the little flutters I feel every now and then, but hoped to have some more significant movement soon.  Then I started typing and BAM.  I swear if my shirt had been lifted up you would’ve seen it, it felt so strong!!  Love it!!!!!!

Unfortunately I have an anterior placenta (which means the placenta is in front of the baby), so it will still probably be a couple weeks until the movement is continuously strong enough to be seen/felt from the outside.  But hopefully that little punch was a sign of things to come.  Our little bug must know we’re about to go pick up his/her nursery furniture!!!

We’ve been in home improvement mode for the past couple of days.  My awesome husband painted the living room all by himself and it looks PERFECT!  I love love LOVE the color… it’s called Autumn Fog – a grayish-blue.  My hub still isn’t 100% sold on the color, which if you know him at all, this probably won’t surprise you (it takes him awhile to – ah hem – commit.)  And then we went and bought some new living room furniture!  We’ve been looking since January (well, HE’S been looking… again, he likes to think things through J) and finally gave in to a sectional and chaise we’d seen at Rooms To Go.  It’s espresso, which I think is going to look awesome against the new wall color.  Now my sweet, sweet hub is in the process of changing ALL of the outlets to child-safe outlets and rearranging the entire living room in anticipation of our new furniture.  It comes a week from Tuesday and we can’t wait!

If you can’t tell already, the nesting phase has already started knocking on my door.  I long for school to be out so that I can just work on the house!  I want to clean, purge, organized, rearrange, etc.  It’s driving me crazy!

Tomorrow we have our 20-week checkup – It’s crazy to wrap my brain around almost being halfway through!  As much as I cannot WAIT to have our little one here, I want to savor every single day I have left to have our little bug inside of me.

While my recent bump pictures don’t look all that different (I think I started popping pretty early), I have been feeling a lot bigger lately.  It must just be the rearranging of my insides.  Running is getting a lot harder, especially on my back.  But I know I’ll look back at these bump pictures as I get farther along and think that it was tiny!

Ok, off to pick up our furniture – As we get the nursery going, I will take pictures, of course!  I’m praying for a GREAT checkup tomorrow followed by a week that goes by FAST because this is going to be my most stressful week of the year for my job! L  But if I can just focus on this sweet little baby, I’ll be just fine!

P.S.  You’ll be happy to know, I bought some new undergarments this weekend!

19 Weeks!  (By the way, not quite sure how long the bare belly pics will be on display... Just sayin'.)

You can see our new wall color in the background!

Underwear Frustration

Ok, so I understand that many of my male relatives frequent this blog – including dads, fathers-in-law, brothers, brothers-in-law, uncles, etc. – so if you guys would prefer not to read about my undergarment frustration, you can skip on down a couple paragraphs. J 

Anywho, for the rest of you who may find humor in this – my rear end is huge.  No really.  I’m having major underwear frustration.  Now, to be fair to myself, at my last doctor’s appointment I had only gained a pound; however, the fact that every single piece of underwear I own either refuses to stay up or creeps in to give me the ultimate wedgie proves that something has gone on back there.  I like to call this ‘something’ the giant spread.  I am convinced that my hips and backside have definitely taken an east to west journey… not only proven by my lack of undergarments that fit, but also by the ridiculous hip pain that wakes me up about six times a night.  It looks like its time for some big girl panties.  Yeesh!

Ok, male family members – you’re welcome to join the conversation again.  Sorry for the embarrassing quip about undergarments, but this blog always has and always will reveal the pretty and ugly truths of growing a human being!

My hub and I had a GREAT week this week.  I was able to distract myself from the stress of work with quite a few fun events.  First, we found a daycare that we love.  We’re on the waiting list, and won’t really know if we get in until our little one makes his/her debut.  Yes, we have all of our eggs in one basket and yes, we know we probably shouldn’t do that.  But this is the place we want!!  So, we’ll see.

We were also able to head down to see our dear, dear friends who are also expecting.  She is about 8 weeks ahead of me and I was way jealous of her baby bump!!

I was especially jealous of how she looks like she just has a basketball under her shirt!  My sister and sister-in-law both carried this way, so I was convinced that she, too, was having a boy.  Lo and behold, they just found out that I was right!  It’s a boy!!  Since I am carrying in every nook and cranny of my body (along with other Old Wives’ Tales that match up with my pregnancy so far), I’m pretty convinced there’s a little girl in there. J

Anyway, we went to their house and were treated to delicious grilled out steaks.  We miss them so much and look forward to many playdates in just a few short months!

In other HUGE news, we had our Anatomy Scan this week!!  I was a ball of nerves and excitement, and I am thrilled to say that everything looks great.  Our little bug was measuring right on schedule and is currently 9 ounces of pure joy.  We got to see his/her brain, heart, aorta, kidneys, umbilical cord, lips, feet, etc.  It was amazing and went by wayyyy too quickly.  Unless the doctor feels a need to have another ultrasound, that is the last time we’ll see our baby until his/her birthday!

Look at the little opened mouth!  His/her legs were crossed and you can see little toes!

We ventured down to South Carolina this weekend so that hub could play in a golf tournament.  I had some much anticipated quality time with my sister and nephew and some more dear friends.  My incredible sister even spent her Saturday helping me register, and I honestly don’t know that I ever could have done it without her!  She gave great advice, told me what I did/did not need, and was patient while I mulled over high chair versus high chair and jumper versus jumper.  Thanks Lu!!!!! J

As soon as we got home today, hub wanted me to show him everything, which I loved.  His reaction mirrored the way I felt in Babies ‘R Us… there’s going to be a lot of STUFF coming into this house!  It's time to start a house cleanse... Let the nesting phase begin!

I’m still feeling pretty great, with only hints of nausea during long car rides or when I’m tired.  I wish I had more time to exercise these days… it really bothers me that I don’t get to more often.  Between work being so stressful, grad school kidnapping my life outside of work, and still feeling pretty exhausted, I rarely get to walk/jog/run like I want to.  But I guess things will slow down eventually.  The only good result is that on the days that I can exercise, my hip pain is worse, so at least my hips are getting a little break.  My sister-in-law’s maternity pillow is still saving my life (and is only occasionally hijacked by Bailey!).

I’m feeling our little bug more and more – pretty much everyday, some days more than others.  It is absolutely incredible… the best part of my days and what I look forward to every single minute. J

18 Weeks! (My sister informed me that it looks much bigger in person!)

18 Weeks in Pink!