I have nothing to wear

You know those days where you stand and stare into your closet for what seems like hours (but really is just a LONG few minutes) and then you profess, "I have nothing to wear!"? Well, I am having a lot of them recently. Now over the past week I have been transitioning into maternity pants and it is a lot more comfortable. I have been given a few stacks of maternity pants from friends to either have/borrow (depending on the source and if they are done having kids or not). So, I am sorta okay on pants. (More on that in a minute...) But the shirts, oh its hard to find a comfortable and semi-flattering shirt. Well let me add, a shirt that doesn't seem "short." Somehow all of my shirts (and I didn't really wear tight shirts before) have lost at least 2-3 inches in length. Now wearing them with the banded maternity pants (noticed I said banded and not paneled...I'm no where near paneled pants and have a slight aversion to the panel anyways), it becomes a constant struggle to make sure that the shirt stays long enough to hide the band. It's a never ending struggle, especially since the band tends to roll and squish. I guess if I go shopping this weekend in Omaha with my sister-in-law (who is also pregnant) that I will need to focus on shirts and not so much pants.

Now back to the pants. The other thing I don't understand about clothes when pregnant are the sizes. I thought I was confused before on how different sizes can still "fit," but it seems more confusing now. The first pants I started wearing were maternity size 12. I also had a few Med and Large. Seemed reasonable to me since I work a 10 or 12 in real life depending on fit. Well I got a second bag of pants from Liz. Looking through them last night I saw that she had some maternity 8s and 10s which I thought were NEVER going to fit. I tried on one of the 10s last night and they were a bit tight in the thigh but okay at the waist. Now today I'm wearing a pair of the 8s comfortably to work. Weird! It all seems a bit backwards but as long as I can find SOMETHING to wear to work I guess I shouldn't complain.

Our 16 wk appt and the main 3

Today we went to the doctor for our 16 week appt. It feels like forever since we have been there. It was a fast appointment and not much happened. We did what I will refer to as the "main 3:" weight, blood pressure, and baby heartbeat. My weight was at 177lbs which is what I expected. My blood pressure was 120/70 which is normal and the baby's heartbeat was just cool. I think I could listen to that everyday. It makes it so real! AlthoughI am starting to show, it seems weird to think a small human is in there growing each day. The heartbeat is just a reality check. It's so fast. It sounds like a galloping horse to me. We also talked with the doctor about the results from the bloodwork of my last visit. Everything was normal and looking good. The doctor also asked us about the quad screen test. We declined. I don't see the need really. It doesn't change anything and the chance of a "false positive" would just freak me out. We also talked about feeling movement. The doctor said that really for a first time mom she would say it would be 19 or 20 weeks before I figured it out as the baby is still really small. So just a few more weeks for that. We go back again in 3 weeks for our next sonogram. This would be the "one" where we could find out the sex of the baby if we were going to (but we aren't). We will have to make sure the sono tech knows that we don't want to know. Then we go back to the doctor the week after for our 20 week appointment. Just right around the corner. 20 weeks, the half-way point ;o) coming right up!

Anyone hungry for Alphabet Soup?

We have decided we love the baby bedding we ordered, so to please my blog followers, I thought I would share. We will be using the Cocalo "Alphabet Soup" collection. I didn't see very many gender neutral sets that I liked and this one by far was too cute to pass up. It is bright and fun. I love the primary colors and the letters and numbers. The set has so many cute accessories so I just have to decide how far I want to take it. I do like light switch cover and the night light. I will have to see how it ends up. I don't have any plans yet for the wall colors in the room but I have plenty to work with on this palette. I have a cute sheet, bumper, and dust ruffle too. Now to more shopping!!

Old wives tales and those "tests"

I guess it's never really to early to guess if we will have a boy or a girl. After all you have a 50/50 shot and plenty of time to change your mind. We have had a few people guess already. Two have said girl and one has said boy. The two that said girl put me through those old wives tale tests... you know like hanging a silver spoon over your belly, a needle over your wrist, or picking up a key. (Yeah I had never heard of the key one either)

We did the "key" test a few weeks ago at Liz's house. Her neighbor said he was 100% accurate to date. He threw a key on the ground and told me to pick it up. Then based on how I picked up the key he said I was having a girl. Now I don't remember any other details so we may have to Google for more understanding....

My mom did the needle over the wrist test. Now this goes beyond telling you the sex of the baby. It also tells you how many kids you will have (and the sex of each). You hand a needle over your wrist and if it swings in a circle it will be a girl and if it swings side to side it will be a boy. It will pause between swinging and then when it starts again that is your next kid....then it stops.. So according to this "test" we will have 2 kids. The first will be a girl and the second is a boy.

I just bring these up because Clay and I recently read the "Wives Tales" section of the pregnancy book and some of them were just too much. I thought I would share some of our "favorites."

• Refusing to eat the heel on a loaf of bread means you're going to have a girl.
  
• Your baby will be born with a hairy birthmark if you see a mouse while pregnant.
  
• Eating berries causes red splotches on your baby's skin.
  
• If you perspire a lot, it's a girl.
  
• It's a girl if you crave orange juice (which I do.)
• Stretching your arms over your head can cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the baby's neck.
  
• If you carry high, it's a boy: low, it's a girl.
  

Those were just a few. We really liked the arms above the head one and the mouse causing birthmarks. Hmm...

Well feel free to share any others that you have heard. When we get closer to baby's arrival (like maybe Nov) I will do a poll to see what you think it will be.

16 weeks

As promised I have done 16 week belly pics. (Maybe one of these Wednesdays I'll get up early enough so that I can dry my hair before my photographer leaves for work.... MAYBE) I did my weekly weigh-in and I'm up to 177lbs and sorta on track. My overall goal is to stay at 200 or below and gain about 1lb a week. I have 24 weeks left (approx) and 23lbs to work with. However, if I gain more, I gain more. Anyways, as I mentioned the other day, I think I'm starting to show. Now if you didn't know me or didn't know I was pregnant then I really just look "thick" but the belly is getting there. Most of it is just the abdominal fat getting pushed up and out of the way for baby but its getting rounder and sticks out just as far as the "oversized girls" if not a bit further late at night when I'm tired and full. The pants help keep it in a bit but even the bigger pants I have are getting snug. It will soon be time to go to the maternity clothes. I'll have to see what I have and I may even have to go shopping. Looking this week on BabyCenter, the baby is approximately 4 1/2 inches from crown to rump. This is roughly the size of an avocado. I should start to feel the baby move in the next few weeks. I guess anywhere between 16-20 weeks. I have heard with your first you need a little time to figure out that is indeed what you are feeling, so I am analyzing each thing I feel these days. We go to the doctor on Friday for our 16 week appointment so I'll keep you all posted. I decided that I would put the bare belly pics at the bottom of each belly post and have the one from the week before as comparison. So, here is the week 12 vs week 16 belly pics. Stay tuned for 20 weeks!

Our first bigger baby purchase and more

So far I haven't really bought much for the baby and really we haven't made many baby decisions yet other than not to find out the sex of the baby and what room we will be using for the nursery. It is our philosophy that we still have plenty of time to make all of these decisions and in reality, we do. However, I have been looking around for baby bedding. I know that I don't need the whole set but I fell victim to another "first baby" trap. I was able to get free shipping so I went ahead and ordered it just to see it in person. If I don't like it I can take it back and return it to the store. There aren't many places in Bloomington Normal for baby stuff. We will see if I like it as much in person as I did online. Really online, its one of the only ones I like that are indeed gender neutral. Now I just have to decide how many of the "accessories" we are going to buy or if I should take my chances and register for them. Hmmm... Well, I know I am being very vague about the bedding but I don't want to show it to everyone until I know it is what we are keeping and maybe even until the nursery is done and ready for baby's arrival, so just hold tight.
Clay and I also started our list of needs and wants and things we thought we would register for. We think we will register in Sept since I'll be past the halfway point. We also started a list of names but those too are TOP SECRET so really I have given you no useful information in this post whatsoever. Sorry ;o) You will just have to wait and see what comes of it all.