Week 15 Belly Shot

15 weeks already! It seems like this pregnancy is taking forever, but then I think back and realize how fast it has gone. I am reminding myself daily to appreciate these weeks and to take time to enjoy them...especially since I am fortunate enough to feel so awesome that I truly can enjoy these days. I'm just getting really anxious to feel the baby move, and to know for sure that that is what is happening. There have been several times now when I wonder if that's what I was feeling, because it felt a lot different than typical gas. Only time will tell, I guess!

Please excuse the blurriness of this picture. We desperately need a new camera because this is one of the best ones we could get. I am embarrassed to even put this up. I don't feel as big as I look in this picture, maybe I was just bloated in this picture (which I didn't feel like I was when I took it - I always take these in the morning so I'm not extra bloated). Anyways, here is the 15 week belly shot!

I had been eyeing a Carter's outlet everyday on my way to work this past week, so yesterday after a long weekend of working, I decided I was going to stop since I could actually make it there before they closed for once. I wasn't sure what to expect, but turns out that store is amazing, quite large, and had tons of great sales going on. I went straight back to the clearance section and got a lot of great clothes for Baby for what I thought were steals. They also have an OshKosh B'Gosh store that I was planning to stop at, but after walking out of Carter's with more than enough, I called it an evening so hubby wouldn't get too upset. I still have it all laying out on the floor in Baby's room because I love to go in there and think about how cute he/she is going to look in all of the new gear. :) I have officially found my new favorite store!

Up until that shopping trip I had been guarding my heart just a little bit because we weren't 100% positive what baby was and I didn't want to get too set on what we thought he/she was. But it's official, my heart is too excited, and I need to know for sure sooner than later. I did make sure to ask what their return policy was, and as long as it has the tags on still you can return it with or without a receipt. Perfect, and just what I needed to hear! Hoping we can get another peek sometime here in the near future so we can be 100% positive.

We are contemplating some pretty big decisions right now, and praying that we can make the best decisions for what's right at the right time. It's hard not to get anxious and worry about the future, but we are trusting in a God whose plan is bigger than ours and that what is meant to be will happen. More on this later.

Baby Matthes - I am getting more and more excited every week and absolutely cannot wait to meet you. You are an amazing miracle and I am so thankful to be carrying you so close and so dear. We love you so much!

Love and prayers in Week 16!

US - 13w4d

And here are pictures of our little bambino! We are pretty sure what it is, but no evidence to share. Sorry! Heart rate was 143, and as I suspected, the ultrasound at our doctor's office was probably incorrect because baby is still measuring right where we thought it should be. So no more shrimp for us! Baby was very mobile during the ultrasound so it made it difficult to get any great looks at first - note to self, don't eat a mini snickers right before! Luckily we were able to spend quite a while scanning so we were able to get some really great pictures. Everything looks great so far.  We got some cool looks at the baby's skull, brain, kidneys, spine, legs, feet, arms, and hands.

We are SO excited! :) A big thank you to Alyssa for doing these for us,

we appreciate it SO much!

This picture of the hand makes my heart melt. 10 perfect fingers. We may also have a thumb sucker, it kept it's right hand up to its mouth for quite awhile.

Babe looks like an alien in this picture, but I love it because you can see so well that it has its mouth open. Pretty amazing!

The placenta is anterior as you can see in the picture above (the grey right in front of baby's face is placenta), which is a bummer because it could mean that I'm not able to feel baby move as early as normal. Hopefully just a few more weeks!

And, luckily the heartburn and headaches were very short lived, and haven't had much of either since. I have also been having some prickling paresthesias on my hands and feet that is more frequent and I am wondering if it has anything to do with the pregnancy. I've never heard anything about that so I will ask my OB when we go in for our next appointment on June 29th. Still having troubles sleeping; it seems to be a trend right now. All in all, can't complain! I am just so thankful. Can't wait to feel this little one moving, especially since we got to see how active he/she is!

Love and prayers, Little One!

3 Month Belly Shots

Three months marks the beginning of my first belly pictures. Since I have started to feel like a blimp, I figured now would be a good time to begin. Still looks like I've just had too many brownies, but if you know there is more there you can probably tell something is going on, finally! These pictures aren't high quality because we don't have a decent camera (yet) and I don't own any photo editing software (yet). We also need to find a better background. But, these were last minute so they will do for now!

Getting more exciting every week now! We love you, Baby Matthes!

Pregnancy in Numbers

Here are the details of this pregnancy so far in numbers. Thought this would be a good way to be able to look back and compare to next time. I will add to the list at the bottom when we get to those things.

Weeks...13w4d (today's US said 13w5d)

Weight of Baby...?

Current Heartrate...143

Trips to bathroom at night...1

Episodes of vomiting...0!

Morning sickness...0!
Diet Pepsis...4
Miles walked in past week...17.3

Week I started noticing my clothes getting tighter...13
Pounds gained...1
Ounces of water per day...90-100

Months since we found out we were pregnant...2

Days until due date...?

1st week of maternity clothes...

Week I started showing no matter what I wore...

Week of the 1st flutter...

Week I first saw my stomach move from Baby...

Number of baby showers we've had...

Number of stretch marks I've earned...

Week I 1st felt contractions...

Centimeters dilated...

Days I'm willing to go past my due date...

Pieces of unsolicitted advice I receive daily...

Number of times my feet are swollen at any given moment...

Back shortly with belly pics and new ultrasound pictures!

13 Weeks

Just got back from a weekend at home in Cambridge while Dan golfed in a tournament with my dad, then went to Aurora for 4 days to visit family, came back and had a going away party for Dan's cousin Trevor at the horse races, went to the lake up in Fremont with friends all day Saturday, and Sunday I threw a baby shower for Dan's sister and her twins that are going to be born within the next month! It's been a crazy couple of days, and I am exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep.

A week ago my boss called and said they were planning to have me start working on Monday, June 10th and that he would call me during this last week with details. I hadn't heard from him all week so I tried calling him on Friday afternoon and I have yet to hear from him. Needless to say, unfortunately, I am not going to be starting work tomorrow as planned. I need a day of rest after this weekend, but we are getting pretty tight financially around here! This summer break is becoming quite expensive when you figure the bills we are having to pay and the money that I could be making each day right now.

Baby is about the size of a peach, and it is possible that it could be sucking it's thumb by now! (Although we do not want a thumb sucker...I will fight that!) It's intestines are starting to move from outside of the body to the inside, and the vocal cords are developing. Praying for you, Little One!

How far along? Almost 13 weeks...can't believe we are almost 1/3 of the way done already!
Total weight gain: 1 pound last I checked, but that was after a week at Grandma's :)
Maternity clothes? Not yet, but things are definitely getting more snug!
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: Getting up to go to the bathroom a little less, and can even make it all the way through some nights now. Still can't get comfortable. My dad has been nagging on me to exercise more during the day to try to wear myself out more, so I walked 5 1/2 miles one day last week, and was still up at 3:30 am. The next day I did 4 and slept a little better.
Best moment this week:  Got to spend 4 days in Aurora with family while Dan did one of the west routes from Aurora, quite possibly my last longer "vacation" to Grandma and Grandpa's without a baby in tow.
Miss anything? WINE. We had a couple really late night drives this past week so I had a couple more Diet Pepsis...total of 4 throughout the first 13 weeks now. I would like to say I have completely given it up, but 3 of the 4 have been very small and much needed.
Movement: Not for a few more weeks!
Food cravings: Carbs, but nothing terrible.
Anything making you queasy or sick: The thought of eggs makes my stomach churn, but I've still been able to eat them
Gender: I think Boy
Labor Signs: N/A
Symptoms: I really cannot complain one bit. I seriously have had the best pregnancy I could have ever dreamed of having so far. The main thing this past week was the onset of heartburn. It's pretty much been all day every day and all night long and it doesn't make any difference what I eat. Exhausted, but it has been a crazy weekend. Starting to feel pregnant finally, but for now my belly looks like I have been eating too many brownies (which may or may not be true) and nothing like a baby belly. Quite a bit of bloating, to the point that I have looked like I'm many months farther along than I am.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, and content.
Looking forward to: Feeling baby move in a few weeks!

We are hoping to get another peek at Baby this weekend. I am so looking forward to seeing how much the little peanut has changed in the past 3 weeks. Daddy continues to call baby "shrimp" so I'm hopeful that we will just find out that the tech at my appointment measured wrong and we are all caught up. He has even been generously sacrificing food saying that "he wants shrimp to have it." Goodness, I really doubt that our baby will turn out to be a real shrimp. I was 8 pounds and Dan was 8 1/2 pounds when we were born. Chances are, we are not going to have a small child.

 I will also be back the end of the week with a 3 month picture of the belly, since we might finally have proof that this a real pregnancy and not just Kait-loves-brownies-too-much, although it is still debateable.

Love and prayers in week 13!

11 Weeks Down!

All of your vital organs are now formed and working, which is a huge relief. Your risk of defects is less now that that stage is complete. Yay! Your ears are finding their proper place and finger and toenails are beginning to form. You now weigh a whopping 1/3 of an ounce, which is about the size of two small packets of sugar and you are 2 inches long. It is SO cool watching how fast babies change in just a matter of a week. It is also a fun feeling to know that baby is moving more now...so excited to finally be able to feel it!

And here are some pregnancy stats. I'm thinking I will try to be more regular about this as a fun way of keeping track of some milestones!

How far along? 11 weeks

Total weight gain: Down 1 pound!
Maternity clothes? No, but I'm thinking they sound pretty comfortable already! Pretty excited to wear some of the pants I got while shopping this week!
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: Hasn't been great pretty much the past 8 weeks. Fall asleep instantly now which is nice, but have a hard time staying asleep. Also rountinely go to the bathroom at 4:00 am. Can't get comfortable...ever.
Best moment this week: Shopping for maternity clothes
Miss anything? WINE. I knew I would miss it, but didn't know it would be this bad! You could probably add Diet Pepsi to the list...have only had 2 small ones since!
Movement: Much too early
Food cravings: Really just sweets, which isn't anything new from before. And wine...did I mention that already?
Anything making you queasy or sick: No, but I did have a dream about fish (like the smell of fish in a pond) that made me really sick
Gender: I think Boy
Labor Signs: N/A
Symptoms: Feeling awesome! Hardly more fatigued than normal, too! Pretty sure I can finally start to feel my uterus creeping up farther into my belly...that's kinda fun! It's been awhile since I've put on jeans, but I would imagine they would be a big more snug. And now looking back, I would imagine that all of the itching that I was having from about weeks 5-9, especially on my legs and back, was pregnancy related. It was pretty bad for several weeks, but it's been a couple since it has really bothered me. I have also had 2 headaches this past week that 1 Tylenol wouldn't fix that lasted for about 12 hours both times. Really, nothing I can complain about though!
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, and content
Looking forward to: Actually feeling pregnant, right now it feels like it's all sacrifices for nothing! Feeling baby move will be pretty cool, too.

Painting the Nursery

Since Dan and I have both had this past week off, we decided it would be a good time to go through everything in our entire house and get rid of everything that we don't need. Needless to say, half of our basement is now a garage sale pile, and every single closet and room of this house has been gone through and is completely organized. It feels amazing. We actually ended up with a little bit of spare room, which is good considering Dan and I had outgrown this house with just the 2 of us.

We have basically been working on the house all day everyday for just about a week now, and were able to get the nursery painted already. When I had originally suggested the idea of painting so early, I was just sure he was going to turn me down. He isn't always amused when I get too far ahead of things. But when presented with the reality that if it wasn't done now, it was probably going to be in the middle of a football game during the fall when it would be time to paint, he really didn't hesitate one minute to agree to the idea. :)

I knew all along that i wanted to go with a neutral color, so painting this early was not going to be a problem. I am also the type of person that had had my entire wedding planned for years before it actually occurred, so it would make sense that I have had most details of this nursery planned for many many months now too. I was also just positive that he was going to be more than annoyed with me when presented with the challenge of not just painting the nursery, but painting one entire wall in horizontal stripes. Not suprisingly, he didn't even bat an eye. (Perhaps this is because he is getting used to my love for painting now. The week before the wedding I decided that our bedroom had to be painted, and a day before we were having a Christmas party at our house for some classmates I decided that our bathroom had to be painted. He didn't fight me one bit then, and before we knew it we were buying paint and supplies, taping the rooms, and they were done! He is amazing, really. Not only does he not get extremely irritated with me like he very well could, but he helps me with every step of the process, and never complains. I really am sad now that the last room in our home has been painted.) Anyway, we collected every paint sample from Menards that was on the pallete in my mind, and came home to begin narrowing them down.

After another trip to Menards for paint and supplies, the next fun part was getting the lines to be perfectly level on the wall and taping. We used a laser level instead of a chalk line and I think it worked pretty well. It would have been much easier if our walls were actually square. This was by far the most meticulous part of the entire project.

After we got done taping the entire wall, we measured each of the stripes to make sure they were perfectly even. It's amazing how much of an illusion the tape makes in making the stripes look different sizes. We then covered each of the stripes that were to be white with paper so that paint wouldn't drip into those parts.

And then began the fun! The rest of the pictures are when progress was finally seemingly made.

After taking off the paper on the white lines....starting to get excited (and nervous about taking the yellow tape off to see how good or bad our lines look)!!

And here is the final result. It turned out as perfectly as I had it pictured in my mind. I LOVE IT! It looks better in person, because I have the cheapest, worst camera. It was either that or my phone so this is the best I can get. You get the idea, though!

We still haven't figured out of we are finding out what LD is or not, so this might be the last nursery picture until baby is born. Still haven't figured out how it's going to look if (when) it is a boy, but I'm thinking light coral and pink accents for a girl. Excited to see how it all turns out!