Hello Monday

Monday again. But that is OK. I was alright with the weekend coming to an end this time. Josh is home from Georgia after a long week of being away. I was so happy to see his face come through the door last night!

This weekend was a productive weekend. I cleaned, I mean SCRUBBED, our house. Some are saying it's nesting, I'm sticking with Spring cleaning. I hate when a house has been shut up for months. A lot of times in the winter Josh doesn't even like to open the blinds because "it lets the cold air in". True or not, some days I don't want to see the gloominess of winter either. So it was just nice to clean the house this weekend. I enjoy cleaning, and it has always been a stress reliever of mine. But once this pregnancy started and I felt sick most of the time, I only did what I needed to maintain. It felt good to clean.

This weekend was not only productive but fun too. Saturday evening I went to a friends house to celebrate her birthday. It was a surprise kind of dinner thing. It was fun and I was glad that I was able to enjoy it with her. I got home kind of late that night, and almost immediately went to bed. I decided to read some in my 'What to Expect' book, but then I decided that maybe I should read the baby a book. So, I went and got the book Harold and the Purple Crayon and started reading aloud to the baby. To my surprise, baby started moving and I looked down and could see baby moving. CRAZY! I just kept reading and watching my belly. It was so amazing! I immediately called Josh to tell him! He couldn't believe it and was disappointed at the same time because he was not there to see it. We will have to see if baby does it again tonight. Josh was so tired last night that I just let him go to bed. It's amazing at how much baby is moving now, and how much stronger baby seems to get everyday. I'm enjoying every moment of this pregnancy, but am getting so anxious to meet baby! Sunday was just filled with cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning. I did also notice this weekend with me up and moving around so much, that my ankles did not swell. Guess my mom was right, my ankles are swelling because I have a desk job and just sit all day. Guess when it gets a little bit warmer, I will walk at lunch. Until then, I'll get up every hour and walk.

Happy Monday!

22 Weeks



How Far Along? 21 weeks 6 days

Total Weight Gain? Between 4 to 6 pounds ( I try not to weigh too much. I don't want to stress myself out).

Maternity Clothes? I can still wear my pre-pregnancy clothes but I do wear maternity shirts occaisionally. Just because.

Stretch Marks? Nope. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen.

Best Moment This Week? All the activity of baby moving around. Baby gets strong everyday I think.

Miss Anything? Other than my hubby? I miss liking food.

Movement? TONS! I think there is a mini-ninja in my belly.

Food Cravings? Juicy fruits. Oranges, Pineapples, strawberries, grapes, peaches, raspberries, black berries, blueberries... YUM!

Anything Making You Queasy or Sick? I think I've had a run in with morning sickness a bit this week. I am queasy before and after breakfast and my prenatal vitamins have not been very nice to me this week. Other than that, same 'ol, meat. BLEH.

Gender? Still a Surprise!

Labor Signs? None

Symptoms? Possible morning sickness, tired again this week (probably more of a lack of sleep issue), and my ankles have been swelling. I think it's because I do a lot of sitting during the day.

Belly Button In or Out? Still in... but I don't know how much longer it will make it in there.

Wedding Rings On or Off? Still on with some room :O)

Happy or Moody Most of the Time? Happy. Love rubbing my budha belly.

Looking Forward Too? A busy March. We have baby related classes to take, the in-laws are coming to visit, and I have my doctors appointment in about a week. Love hearing that sweet little heartbeat.

Baby Stuff

I went to a friends house Tuesday night to go through some baby stuff that she had. This is what I left with. 60 pairs of clothing, including jeans, overalls, onsies, sleepers & t's, a breast pump, 7 bottles, a pack of diapers, a head rest for the car seat, a hat and bibs. Baby cloths jack pot! All of which are gender neutral and range from new born to 9 months. SWEET!

Just a little update, baby Keown is a moving around machine!! I get all kinds of kicks and punches and rolls and then the occaisional baby all on one side of my belly. Baby is getting more active everyday and I love it! I've also been feeling kind of queasy this week. I'm not sure why. I am nauseous before I eat, after I eat, after I take my vitamins. . . just seems like nothing is helping. Hopefully my morning sickness is not coming back. Other than that I feel good. Just need to find a little more energy. That'd be nice! I can't believe how fast June is coming. Baby will be here before we know it.

Josh is out of town this week. Bummer. He is in Atlanta for meetings and won't be back until next Monday. I hate being home alone. An empty house with just the cat and I is no fun. Not to mention we live out in the middle of no where and all the sounds and creeks and wind gusts keep me on edge. EEEK. However, I can take advantage of this time and scrub my house. Josh, bless his heart, loves for me to spend time with him instead of cleaning, and it's just too hard to tell him no sometimes. So, I have the motivation today, guess I'll be cleaning tonight! And hanging up baby clothes! Haha!

Just Another Manic Monday

Where did the weekend go? It was such and interesting weekend. Saturday we spent the day roaming around town in the beautiful 60 degree weather, and then Sunday we watched 6" of snow fall. So we got spring and winter in one weekend. Sunday was a day to mark on the calendars though, Josh felt baby Keown move for the first time. It was such a special moment! His face was priceless. I just wish I had a picture of it to keep forever.
I thought that I was going to get a snow day today, but no, Josh insisted that I go to work and actually took me. On the way in, we heard what sounded like a flat tire, pulled over only to find that everything was ok. We get about 5 minutes away from work and the sensor light comes on and not only is the tire pressure low, it's leaking fast. Watching the PSI on the dash go from 29 to 20 in a matter of seconds is kind of scary when you're traveling 55-60mph. We got pulled over and had a nurse from work come pick me up. While waiting on her, Josh decided to try and change the tire, when the jack slipped from out from under the car, I thought I'd have a heart attack. So we decided to drive over to the tire place, that we had both forgotten about, and get there.. they have no power! Thank you snow! Missy came and picked me up and Josh had driven to another tire store that had power. I told him I just needed to take a snow day!
On another note, here is what we woke up to this morning.. .

The trees were beautiful with all the snow on the them. Now, it's snowed, it's pretty... now it can melt!
Happy Monday!

21 Weeks

How far along? 20 weeks 6 days

Total Weight Gain: 1 lb (went up 3 pounds and then came back down)

Maternity Clothes? Some. I can still wear most of my shirts and jeans thanks to my belly band.

Stretch Marks? None

Best moment of the week? Seeing baby Keown in an unexpected ultrasound. He/She is very wiggly!

Miss Anything? Laying on my stomach

Movement? Lots. Baby Keown is very active!

Food Cravings? Chocolate milk shakes and fruit

Anything making you queasy or sick? Meat, eggs, melted cheese.

Gender? It's a surprise!

Labor Signs? Thought so, but thankfully not!

Symptoms: Some stretching pain and belly button pain.

Belly Button in or out? Still in but getting close to the outside world.

Wedding Rings on or off? On and still a little loose

Happy or Moody most of the time? Happy.

Looking forward too? Feeling baby move from the outside so that Josh can enjoy it too.

Healthy Pregnancy Recipe: Linguine with Spinach

I've been looking at recipes to try. This one looks yummy. Maybe I'll give it try tonight for dinner. YUM!

Ingredients (Makes 4 to 6 servings)
1 pound regular or multigrain spaghetti
1 or 2 garlic gloves, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
3 Tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 pound fresh spinach, washed, with tough stems removed, roughly chopped (or 1 8oz package of frozen spinach, defrosted)
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (or 1 pint sweet, ripe cherry tomatoes, sliced)
1/4 cup pine nuts (optional)
Salt, pepper, and parmesan to taste

Preparations
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta. Meanwhile, combine the garlic and red pepper flakes with the oil in a large bowl. When the pasta is nearly done, plunge the spinach into the water and cook until it wilts -less than a minute. Drain pasta and spinach together quickly, then toss into the olive oil mixture. Add the tomatoes and pine nuts. Toss well, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with ample topping of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Valentine's Day!

These were the gifts that my sweet husband got for me, and for baby Keown. In a casual conversation with my husband last week, I told him that I needed to get a liner to go inside my North Face jacket (shell). Little did I know as we were on our way into town, that he had actually listened to what I said. Normally, things like that are processed as "she wants to spend money, change the conversation". But he listened. We walked into the outdoor store thinking (me anyway) we were looking for my old boss. As I veered right, my husband headed towards the guy at the counter and I heard "Are you Brad?" WHAT?! So, he introduces himself and the guy hands him this beautiful pink and dark purple jacket, and Josh tells me to take my jacket off and zips it in. It's beautiful, and OH so warm! After we left, I thanked him about a million times, even though he asked if it would fit around my belly... I am NOT that big! haha. So we were having a discussion about what we wanted to do for dinner. I don't think I'm the 'average' wife. I don't expect anything for Valentine's day. To me, it is a bunch of hype and broken expectations of what women think that men SHOULD do for them. It's not fair to put that kind of pressure on a spouse or significant other, to me. And I personally think that showing love unexpectedly on normal, non-love holidays is more romantic anyway. So, we are having the discussion about where to eat and I see the most beautiful sign... CHIC-FIL-A. BINGO! It took me about a mile to talk Josh into turning around and going to Chic-Fil-A for Valentine's. BUT, I am the pregnant one, so guess who won! Yep! Me! So, we walk in to Chic-Fil-A and it's SO cute. They had heart shaped balloons and pink balloons, and gave us both a free brownie, I got a carnation, and we got to sit in a special "Sweetheart Dinner" section. It was SO PRECIOUS! I enjoyed that so much more than I would have waiting in a line for an hour or so to eat a mediocre steak, that I could have done at home. This trip to Chic-Fil-A was by far, more special to me. So much so, I told Josh that we needed to go there every year for Valentine's day! So sweet.
So we get home kind of late, after going out to get my jacket, and then to eat. So after showers I went to crawl in the bed and when I pulled the covers back, there was this pair of THE MOST precious hiking boots in the bed! I think that we laid there for a good thirty minutes just in amazement of these little tiny boots that will, in time, be on OUR babies feet. We took pictures of them, we played with them, we pondered about the baby being able to walk in them. It was so sweet!

I think I had the best Valentine's Day ever yesterday. I sure do love my husband!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to my favorite husband. I love him so much and he makes everyday feel like Valentine's Day. Hugs and Kisses, from the Mrs! ;O)

Meet The Family!

My first blog post. How exciting. I was asked to do this by some family members that live out of town and thought that it would be a good way for family to see what's going on and to document the rest of my pregnancy.

This is my husband and best friend, Josh. I love this man to the moon and back. He's your average redneck. Loves the outdoors, duck hunting, fishing, riding dirt bikes and such. When you first talk to him, you know he's from the south. He's got that thick southern accent that makes me *swoon* with every word he says. I can't wait to see this man as a father. He's going to be amazing and so much fun.

These are our fur babies. Gunner is Josh's chocolate lab. He is a hardcore duck hunting/retrieving machine! He is the most lovable dog I know, and has never met a stranger. I love him so much. And those big brown eyes of his. If its possible for a pet to have you wrapped around their finger.. or paw.. Gunner is it!
Boone is my cat. I pitched a fit for this cat. I begged and pleaded and begged some more... turns out, the one that didn't want her, is the one she loves the most, Josh. Boone is a hardcore eater/sleeper. That's all this cat does. At 14 pounds she's a 'beast'. She loves to chase her tail, yes like a dog. I love this cat. She has a great pesonality and isn't afraid to let you know when she's had enough of you in her face.

And here I am. Well, my growing belly that is. At 20 weeks 3 days, I sat and wondered today where the time had gone. It's so surreal that only 20 weeks ago, the thought of being a parent scared me and made me wonder if I could even handle it. Now, I can't wait for this precious baby to be here. Every kick and flip that goes on is so special. I love being pregnant. I wish that every woman in the world could experience this miracle at least once in their life. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

And here is Baby Keown. The baby currently remains nameless (We have names picked out), because we do not know if Baby is a boy or a girl. And apparently we are one of the few people left in the universe that are not finding out the sex of the baby. Everytime we tell people that, we get mixed feelings. Some people think it's great and some people think we are nuts, our nurse included! So far we have seen baby Keown in an ultrasound 3 times. First as a confirmation ultrasound and baby was just a tiny little peanut, then at what I thought was 18 weeks 6 days but turns out baby was measuring bigger and after some calculations and a due date change, we were actually seeing baby at 19 weeks 5 days. WOW. I thought I had another week before I was HALF WAY THERE! None the less, I am more than thrilled that baby is coming and can't wait for that day. As you can see, it seems as though we have a stubborn baby, we decided not to find out the gender, and baby did good at hiding anything that would reveal that. But, in the process of hiding idetifying parts, baby decided to hide his/her face as well! Those hands stayed in babies face the entire time. I got to see the baby again at 20 weeks 2 days (just for a check up, thought I was having contractions but all is well), and even though we weren't supposed to be doing an ultrasound to see baby, the ultrasound tech decided to try and get me a face shot, still no luck. Everything will be a surprise to us! Well, that's us for now. Things will be changing daily! Can't wait for our new adventure!