26 Weeks Pregnant

The little one is the size of a head of lettuce!  This week, I also am pretty sure I felt my first contractions...woah!  I called the doctor today to confirm everything was okay, because on Saturday I kept getting some pretty obnoxious cramps.  Turns out, they were likely contractions.  It's so wild to me what the body is already preparing me for with this little girl.  It's making it very real that one day, she's going to have to come out of me and her sweet little kicks I feel right now will turn into cute little wiggles hopefully coupled with some seriously baby giggles!

How far along: 26

Gender: Girl!

Weight gained: 16.4 lbs

Inches gained: About 7.5

Working Out:  Yes, but not on the weekend when I had strange cramps and then a little bleeding.

Clothing Choices:  I feel like all my shirts are too tight and I really wish I would have purchase one of the pairs of maternity shorts in the next size up.  They didn't have them in stock and going 2 sizes up was too much…I should have just held off because now I just have one pair that fits!

Belly button: Outty for sure

Sleep: Not too bad, not awesome

Best moment this week:  Just feeling all her movement makes me so happy!

Hardest moment this week: I had cramping and slight bleeding over the weekend so that was scary, but everything checked out normal when I contacted the doctor.

What I’m missing: Being able to pop my back.  It’s random, but I used to be able to crack my back by doing a back bend into my fists, but now I have to be careful leaning back so I don’t hurt my abdominal area

Movement: She’s still moving quite a bit.  I notice her around 9am, 9:30 PM, and at about 3am if I get up for a restroom break.

Cravings:  Chocolate

Queasy or sick: Feeling good.

Looking forward to: East TN!  We are attending a wedding of my big sister from my sorority, AXO and one of Neal’s fraternity brothers!  That’ll be 5 of us from the same Greek couplings that have gotten married!  Also, the next day is baby girls FIRST SHOWER!!!  I seriously cannot wait for this fun “Baby is Brewing” shower on the lake!!! My amazing friends, Hope and Natalie, are putting this together and I seriously couldn't feel luckier!

Strange Dreams:  So real strange, I had one where I was attracted to a guy from back in the day high school that I’ve never been attracted to before in my life!  I mean it’s not like he’s not cute I guess, I just never thought of him like that.  Anyways, strangest part was I get on FB the next day and a pic of his family is like #4 on my FB newsfeed!  And I never look at his profile or follow posts by him…it was just too much strangeness.

Week 26 Workouts

• Wednesday – Tone it Up Bikini Body 2 and Bikini Booty + 1.5 mile dog walk
• Thursday – 2 mile AM dog walk and then another ½ mile mall walking
• Friday – 2 mile AM dog walk, Core Cardio routine from Knocked Up Fitness DVD 2
• Tuesday – AM: 1 mile walk (solo, no pups!) Tone it Up Bikini Arms and Prenatal Pilates Part 2 – the core routine. In the PM I took both pups for a 1 mile walk each, so I got in 3 total miles today (yay!) 
• Also, I've been doing at least 25-50 squats per day

25 Weeks Pregnant

I can't believe there's only about 3 months (give or take a few weeks) left of pregnancy!  

This little girl is already SO loved.  Mom and I picked up some goodies to decorate her room while I was visiting her and her husband in the Boston area, and Neal and our friend Jeremy put together her dresser! Her crib should be coming this week, so I'm hoping to start decorating a little soon!

I'm sure it'll be at least another month or more before I'll have her room ready to present on the blog, but I can't wait for that time to come :)

How far along: 25

Gender: Girl!

Weight gained: 15.2 lbs

Inches gained: About 7 inches

Working Out:  Yes! See in detail below

Clothing Choices:  Comfy dresses were my besties this week!

Belly button: Undoubtedly an outty now

Sleep:  It was alright, traveling through me off a bit.  It’s always harder to sleep in an unfamiliar place/bed.

Best moment this week: Getting to spend time with my mom and her husband!  I loved that mom got to feel her moving!

Hardest moment this week: It’s hard to go out of town and then come back home and stay constantly busy filling orders.  It’s worth it because I LOVE Lively Happenings, but I am exhausted!  Thankfully I will have the last order out the door tomorrow from when I was out of town!

What I’m missing: It was beer again this week.  When Joe would drink a beer at dinner I’d just sigh and smell it!

Movement: This little girl can’t keep still! Sometimes I think, goodness please stop moving, and then I remember that it’s the best thing to feel her move and I’d be scared or sad if I couldn’t feel her sweet rolls, kicks and hiccups

Cravings:  Ice cream and veggies. Not together, but they are what I want the most.  I indulge in the veggies but try to resist the ice cream and settle for Greek yogurt or a glass of milk.

Queasy or sick: Feeling good.

Looking forward to: Seeing Neal’s family this upcoming weekend for his sister’s bridal shower!

Strange Dreams:  I had a vivid dream that I had just gotten into my car from a fast food type place and someone came around the corner, slashed my driver seat tire, and then pointed a gun at all of the teenagers in the parking lot behind me, who all fell to the ground.  I woke up at this time but though OH MY GOSH if that really happened, what would I even do?  Would I try to drive away on the rim, would I have my phone close enough to call 911, would the person try to get in my car? Holy crud!  But let’s hope this doesn’t happen and I never have to think about that scenario again.

Week 25 Workouts

• Wednesday – Do you consider a 1-1.5 mile jog through the Detroit airport to catch your connecting flight a workout?  I do!  50 Squats!
• Thursday – Tone it Up Under the Sea x 2 and then a 1.5 mile walk around a high school near my mom’s PT appointment. I even found a pretty side trail!  Also did 50 squats.
• Friday – A one mile walk and Knocked Up Fitness Prenatal Pilates Arms, Legs and Total Body routines + 50 squats
• Saturday – We walked a lot around downtown Boston, at least 2 miles – no strength training today though besides by 50 squats.
• Sunday – Yoga in the Park with Audrey!  This one was called 7^th Inning Stretch at Bosse Field, where a “League of Their Own” was filmed!
• Monday – Tone it Up Bikini Series Arm Workout (holy burn!) and then a 2 mile walk with the pups (each pup went on a mile with me)

24 Weeks Pregnant and Growing!

This week has been much better than last week in terms of emotional roller coasters!  I've been really happy and am really looking forward to seeing what week 25 brings for us!

Today's fruit to baby size comparison is the cantaloupe.  You'll notice it's a lot larger than the grapefruit from last week...but hey, like I said last week, I've never seen a 12 inch grapefruit, have you?

Shorts are from Old Navy maternity and top is from Hazle and Olive

How far along: 24

Gender: Girl!

Weight gained: 15.2 lbs

Inches gained: About 7 inches

Working Out:  Yes! See in detail below

Clothing Choices:  I found myself in my new shorts and dresses or skirts.

Belly button: Undoubtedly an outty now

Sleep:  Pretty good!

Best moment this week: Getting to go to Knoxville and spend a little time with family and friends.  Also, Mother’s Day was great and Dad and Kim gave me a super sweet personalized gift.

Hardest moment this week: My stomach just felt so heavy at the end of the wedding on Saturday.  I was simply sore.

What I’m missing: Probably still beer.

Movement: She’s a wiggle worm!!!

Cravings:  Ice cream.  I want it all the time 24/7

Queasy or sick: Been feeling pretty good!

Looking forward to: Spending time with my mom and her husband.  I fly to Boston tomorrow to see them for a few days.

Strange Dreams:  None this week!  Neal had some strange ones when we were at Dad’s house, but none here!

Week 24 Workouts

• Wednesday – Tone it Up Bikini Cardio and 3 rounds of Surfer’s Paradise (found here)
• Thursday – Tone it Up Kettelbells with Katrina x 3 and a brisk 2 mil walk (Kettelbells Here)
• Saturday – Tone it Up Love Your Body series Legs & Booty workout x 3 (found here)
• Sunday – 3 mile Dog Walk
• Monday – 3 miles on the elliptical and Tone it Up Bikini Body Routine (LOVE this one!)
• Tuesday - The new Tone it Up Bikini Arms (found here)

23 Weeks Pregnant!

During this middle part of pregnancy, the weeks seem to drag by slowly.

This is the time where many women start to freak out and have anxieties.  The initial excitement of pregnancy has passed, your body is changing more and more, and then you realize you actually have to birth this thing and somehow figure out how to be a parent.  Within no time, all these thoughts can drive you bonkers!  Or at least that's what I read this past week during my Google searches for "freaking out during pregnancy", "crazy emotions during pregnancy", "pregnancy sadness", "pregnancy hormones" and anything else I thought I needed to Google whilst I had another emotional breakdown last Wednesday.

Seriously, I LOVED my first trimester.  I wasn't sick, I was in baby awe, I was always happy.  My second trimester...I wish it would just move along.  Currently, I am completely happy and thrilled about pregnancy, but the highs and lows of this week vary dramatically.  I even was chatting with a friend and suddenly burst out something along the lines of "I don't even know if I can do this anymore!  I feel like I shouldn't even deserve to have her because I am so terrified of the changes that are happening emotionally, physically, and relational." There were probably a spat of curse words and not quite as choice ways of stating that when I actually said this to my friend, but you get the point.

I was depressed.  Highly emotional. Terrified.  And all it really took was for her to tell me these kinds of emotions are completely normal!  Not every woman may experience them, but many do.  I wanted SO DESPERATELY to become pregnant, why now was I wanting out so badly!?  It has to do with all the changes happening, and you can't control them.  You can't completely control how your body will change, of course you can workout, but that doesn't mean you're gonna look like a Victoria Secret model!  I can't control my job situation, I'd love to be full time and have benefits knowing that I'll have a job months to a year after pregnancy, but I'm contracted, I have no say in that situation.  I can't control that my husband and I are both set in routines and some weeks find it more difficult to make...romantic time...for us.  I mean before getting pregnant, we were TRYING to get pregnant, so we were 'you know' a lot more.  Well duh, we are pregnant now, we don't have to try ALL the time to conceive, we've done that!  Yes we still need to have romantic time, and we do, but it's not going to be a nearly every day type thing anymore.  I can't control 100% how my labor will go.  Of course I can and will be taking classes to familiarize myself with what to semi expect, but I've never felt that pain before.  I don't know if it'll go as planned and all natural, I may have to have a c-section if it's what the doctor sees best.  These are things I can't control.  All I can do is prepare myself mentally, physically, and emotionally.  And that's more than enough.  If you experience any of this during pregnancy, YOU ARE NORMAL!  You are not alone.  All women are different, but many of us have these moments of weakness and freak-outs.  Embrace them, realize what's happening, and then find a way to overcome.  I promise it gets better.

Onto week 23. First off, let me say, thank you for joining me in my journey! I truly appreciate you being here.  Second, let me say this whole "baby the size a a fruit thing" doesn't always make sense...How was she the size of a spaghetti squash last week and now the size of a grapefruit at 12 inches?  Have you EVER seen a 12 inch grapefruit!? I sure haven't!

                                 Dress from Old Navy and belt from Forever 21

How far along: 23

Gender: Little one’s a girl!!!

Weight gained: 13.6 lbs

Inches gained: About 6.5 inches around biggest part of belly

Working Out:  Yes! I worked out all but 1 day when my allergies got the best of me.  I did gain a bit more weight in one week than I would have liked (2.2 lbs) but need to realize this little one is just making space for herself, and I didn't gain any weight last week, so this is likely what I needed.

Clothing Choices:  I purchased 2 shorts and another comfy dress this weekend with Birthday money.  It's the dress in the picture above!  It’s getting too hot for my maternity jeans, so shorts were really needed as I was running into wearing the same bright colored skirts and patterned dresses multiple days a week.

Stretch marks:  Only those from soccer years ago on the thighs.

Belly button: It’s popped, not fully an outty, but you can see it through some shirts now.

Sleep:  Not too bad once my allergies stopped being a pain.

Best moment this week: My Birthday was pretty fun. It was great to be able to go to the Zoo with Neal and it makes me look forward to when little girl is here and I can bring her to the zoo as well!

Hardest moment this week: Again, I had a SUPER emotional day.  Wednesday was incredibly tough.  I felt like I was on a downward spiral and nothing could go correctly.

What I’m missing: Beer.  I hate to say that, but it’s the truth. I really want a beer.

Movement: She’s a wiggle worm!!!

Cravings:  Fruits of all sorts, I just crave sweets but am able to curb them with fruit.

Queasy or sick: Some more allergies, it got bad on Wednesday and Thursday and then was a little better Friday and continued to get slightly better through the weekend.  It’s now Tuesday and I’d say I’m at 90%.  I did take Claritin Friday, Saturday and Sunday with my doctor’s permission.

Looking forward to: Seeing my girls at my friend Martha’s wedding this weekend!!!

Strange Dreams:  Elevators.  They have started to bother me more and more.  In a dream I had, I was stuck on an elevator, but not stuck to where it wouldn't open on any floors, just stuck to where it wouldn't go to my floor, floor 4.5.  Yes, that’s right, I needed to get off at floor 4.5! First it would only bring me to floor 22, then 4.25 then 4.75, but never floor 4.5.  Super random.

Week 23 Workouts

• Wednesday - 1 mile walk in the morning, I would have done more but it was chilly...this also made my allergies come back in full force.  Tone It Up Malibooty x 2
• Friday - 20 min HIIT from the Tone It Up Beachbabe DVD
• Saturday - MY 26th BDAY!!!   75 minutes of Power Yoga to start my morning and a 1.75 mile walk around the Zoo!
• Sunday - 2 mile dog walk
• Monday - 2 mile dog walk and 20 minutes of Knocked Up Fitness Prenatal Yoga
• Tuesday - 45 minute Turbo Jam Cardio Party in the AM and then the new Tone It Up Bikini Booty workout along with Sunset Stretch

How We Told Our Family We Were Pregnant

Neal's Family

We were going to middle TN for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with Neal’s family, so we knew we wanted to tell his parents, sister and extended family in person.  We had only found out a few days prior to Christmas and were simply delighted we’d be able to tell his family in person.

Neal’s original idea, bless his heart, was to just give his parents the test wrapped up.  That was until I was like umm eww and he realized oh yea, that’s not a good idea.  So instead, I compiled a picture of the test, me holding the test, and the M&M’s I used to tell Neal we were pregnant - shown below. I also boxed up some of the M&M’s for them.

His mother seemed a little tense about work the next morning and other things happening when we arrived, so we decided to hold off telling them on December 23rd when we got there.  Instead, we waited until Christmas Eve afternoon to tell them.  We said we really wanted to give them a gift early and couldn't wait!  His parents were both so excited for us!  His mother teared up a little and said “It’s a good thing you didn't tell me before work, or I would not have gone in today!”  When Neal’s sister arrived later that evening, his mom asked her if she and her fiancé wanted to see the Christmas present she got to open from us.  Lyndsey caught on quick and said “I knew it!”

The next day, we celebrated Christmas with Neal’s mom’s side of the family.  We were having lunch and sitting at a table with his Uncle Jeff and Grandfather when we decided to tell them the news! They were very excited and so sweet! After all the kids open their presents, his Grandfather stood up to give out the last of the gifts from him, and when he handed us our present he said something along the lines of “To the mommy and daddy to be”, but he was so quiet, the family didn't hear, so Neal stood up afterwards and said he had an announcement and let the family know we were expecting!  Everyone was so very happy and supportive!

My Mother and Her Husband

My mother and her husband live in Massachusetts, my father and his girlfriend live in East TN, and my brother and wife were traveling on their honeymoon in Canada (brr that time of year, but they enjoyed it!). So we told each of them via a special surprise gift and a Skype call.

We had told my parents to wait to open their Christmas presents until we could Skype with them so we could “open together”.  It worked out perfectly!

While talking to mom & Joe, we told them to save the baby announcement gift for last so we could enjoy all the other presents with them before.  It was so fantastic to see how excited they both were when they opened a box with the same picture and the M&M’s we had given to Neal’s family!  My mom actually jumped up and said “OH my gosh, HOORAY!”  And then she proceeded to ask if she could tell my brother and step-brother!  I told her not yet, that I was going to Skype with my brother and would let my step-brother know once we were further along. 

My Brother & His Wife

My mom did ask my brother if he had Skyped with me yet a few days later.  He had not, but caught on quickly since we hardly ever Skype unless we have something cool to show each other which doesn't happen that often.  When we finally did Skype with him, he said, “Severine and I guessed that’s what you wanted to tell us!” He was really excited as well!

My Dad and His Girlfriend (yes he should put a ring on it already...I hope you and Kim are reading this Dad!)

Lastly, we told Dad and Kim.  My father’s birthday is a few days after Christmas, so we used our Skype call with him as an excuse to have us watch him open his birthday present from us, which was a few SCUBA things and one of my favorite books he’d read to me as a child “Morris Goes to School” by B Wiseman.

Dad and Kim sat opening presents and finally they got to the book.  He opened it up and said, “Oh, Morris the Moose and his gumdrops!” in his best Morris voice.  Seriously, my dad rocks at this, I should have recorded the Skype call.  And then he said, “That’s so sweet of you.” Neal and I, stunned at how ignorant my dad was, told him to open the book, and so he did.  He started reading the note, but literally did not catch on until he got to the words “…to your first grand child...” And then his eye’s welled with small tears and he and Kim were so overjoyed! 

I took these pictures of him in his rocker with the book when I went to East TN about a month ago...seriously, my dad is adorable :)

Dads reaction was the most wonderful thing, but we also got him the most unique gift to tell because I’d been thinking about how I wanted to do that for years!

Some of my closest friends

• Emily - well she found out before Neal, if you read the "How I Told My Husband We Were Pregnant" post!
• Natalie - I wasn't planning on telling Natalie until late January as she had just had an amazing proposal only 2 days after we had found out we were pregnant!  Neal and I had wanted to attend, but a craft fair Lively Happenings was in was rescheduled to that day and it's a looooonnnggg drive when I knew we weren't spending the holidays in East TN.  She was super excited about her engagement, as was I, and her and her fiance took to choosing dates quickly.  She was texting me on my way to Neal's family's house when she said, "Okay it's in August". I knew Natalie wanted me to be a part of her day, so I messaged her fiance telling him I didn't want to tell her b/c this was her moment, and he said no way, I have to tell her b/c they are picking dates quick.  So I ended up calling her and she was so shocked and graciously happy.  Natalie and Chase have quite a few weddings/bridal showers/bachelorette and bachelore parties to work around, so their weeks were limited, but they did end up not going with August, phew! My doctor did tell me 6 hours at full term was a no go when traveling.
• Brittany DC - She was in Disney world and talking about cute gifts and I said, "Oh I picked up a cute one" and sent her a picture of a reindeer onesie sized 3 months and said "It's the perfect size for our newest addition!" She was floored!
• Hope and Dane - sadly Dane was on a boy trip, but I still got to tell Hope over coffee and Skype. Getting Starbucks "together" is one of my favorite things to do.  Hope and I will each get our coffees, her in Knoxville and me in Evansville, and we will call for chats.  Sometimes we Skype, most of the time it's just a phone call, but I told her I wanted to Skype!  So we were chatting away and Hope kept wondering why Neal was on this call, and I said, oh so we got a cool Christmas present, want to see?! And I held up the same reindeer onesie!!!  It was SO exciting for us all!
• Lars and Danielle - The Larsons were coming into town for a wedding Christmas Eve.  She was about 20 or so weeks pregnant with their little girl and cute as a stinking button!  We really wanted to tell them and had them over at our house before going to dinner and I said, oh I need you guys to come back tomorrow before the wedding if you can take some pictures for us, it's really random, but we'd like them holding these signs.  And I held up the signs we used to take our pregnancy announcement photo that said "Guard Dog Duty Starts August 2014" and "You mean I'm no longer the baby?" both of them were SO excited and Dani teared up a little and said "I knew it!"
• Bob & Natasha - I couldn't wait to tell them!  These are our friends we went to Cancun with last year and they have the cutest children ever!  We were all college friends and have stayed really close since. We were on our way to Neal's parents house for Christmas and I begged him to let me tell Bob and Natasha and he finally agreed.  I sent Natasha the picture from the 6ish week picture Neal took of me seen in this post.
• Brittany - She and her family were driving through Evansville so they stopped to have lunch with us at Panera when we got to talking about us starting a family and I said oh let me show you a picture, and I pulled out my phone to show her the same 6ish week one I had sent Natasha.  It was only a few weeks later she messaged me to tell me she too just found out she is pregnant!
• Marlee, Kellie and Lauren all got phone calls!  With Marlee and Kellie we were talking about our favorite Christmas presents and I had said, oh well this year Neal and I found out we are having a baby, so that's probably my best present :)  They were both super thrilled for us, Kellie cried!  With Lauren I had pretty much convinced her we were still trying to conceive.  We literally talked about it for 30 minutes and I just felt so terrible for lying, but I was trying not to tell people until we were more in the clear, but I caved and sent her the same picture I had sent to Bob and Natasha!  She called me back and said "Are you kidding me, you little liar!"  She's great :)
• Jeremy - This is one of Neal's best friends and shortly after we found out we were pregnant, I had picked a crib I wanted.  I couldn't find it anywhere and knew it was custom made.  I sent the picture to Neal's phone as asked if it could be made.  So he showed it to Jeremy and said, "So you think you can help me make this?" Jeremy had some sort of reply along he lines of "For you or someone else?" although it was much more clever and sarcastic than that!  We'll miss Jeremy living here in Evansville!  Oh and we have decided on another crib, I'll be posting nursery inspiration soon!
• Many other family and friends received the postcard we printed shown in the post "Our Biggest Announcement...A Baby Bratton!"

What great ways have you heard to tell close family big news like this?