The Sixth Month

I have officially made it to month seis! My current weight gain at week 24 ... 14 pounds. Blood pressure is good and baby's measurements/heartbeat look good.

Between now and my next appointment at 28 weeks I have to take my glucose screening for gestational diabetes. For anyone who has never been pregnant or heard of this, I have to drink 50 mg of dextrose in 10 minutes or less and then hurry over to my dr.'s office for a blood draw within the hour. I have to fast for an hour beforehand and cannot eat or drink anything until after my blood draw. If I pass this first test successfully then all is good. If not, I have to go through a 3 hour screening which is supposed to be awful.

I'm starting a prenatal yoga class this week. Let's hope I stick to this better than I have with my cooking attempts!

I decided to wash and organize Baby G's clothes sizes 0-12 months the past couple of nights. We haven't purchased any nursery furniture yet, so I am putting everything temporarily into storage bins. He has quite the wardrobe already, but I can't help it if I want my little man to look good!

This past weekend we had our annual family crawfish boil. We all agreed it was the best one yet, and I can't wait until next year when there are 3 new babies in attendance! As you can see from the picture, although my due date is 2 weeks later than the other two lovely ladies, my belly is FAR bigger than the others. What's up with that?!?








Now that August is looming closer, we are starting to think more about how we are going to put together the nursery. As of now, we are leaning towards an "African safari" look since we both love Africa. I have found inspiration from two different nursery designs online.

In the first one, I really like the custom made bedding:




And in the second one, I really like the wall murals:

More than halfway there!

I am officially approaching the 22 week mark - eeeeeek! Exciting and scary (albeit in a good way) all at the same time.

We had our 20 week anatomy ultrasound over a week ago. The first thing the sonographer asks is, "Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" R immediately replies, "Yes!" Well she then proceeds to go over all of the body parts ... the brain, the heart chambers, the fingers, arms, toes, kidneys, and then finally gets to what we REALLY want to see. Of course we want to know that our Little Bean is healthy in every way, but we really got excited to see that it's a boy! R could barely contain himself and was already getting his texts prepared to send out before we left the office. I still think of him as my Little Bean, although now that we know "who" he is, I can fondly call him my Little G.

R is ready to get him into some athletic training ...




My kids at school were also excited to find out. We made a graph to see if more people thought it would be a boy or a girl. Not surprisingly, it was pretty much divided among gender: the boys thought it would be a boy and vice versa, except for myself and one of my girls. I told them that I would come to school the next day in a blue shirt if it's a boy and a pink shirt if it's a girl. Needless to say, they were all giddy to see my color choice (with the boys doing most of the celebrating). While we were doing the graph, one of my students asked me, "Do we get a prize if we're right?" Haha, nice try. :)









After leaving school before my appointment, I headed over to my bff's school to have lunch, see her new school, and meet her little ones. When I arrived, they presented me with the cutest little book that they had made. It is definitely something I will keep with Little G's other cards/momentos. :)





She has been my awesome photographer, helping me document my pregnancy and will also be taking pics of Little G once he makes his appearance. She did my 20 week portrait a couple of weeks ago...



The belly is definitely growing - as are other body parts! I found out at my last appointment that I've gained 10 pounds so far (although it feels/looks like more!), and my doctor then said that she wants me to gain 20-25 more pounds by the end. Ummmm, no gracias. Gross - I know 30-35 pounds is a normal pregnancy gain, but I just cannot imagine putting that much more weight on my frame. I already feel so huge as it is, and I really don't like the idea of weighing more than R. I won't do anything ridiculous to avoid gaining weight, but I am not going to TRY to gain 25 more pounds.

I had dinner with one of my best friends tonight and she commented several times on another part of my body that has definitely expanded. Her exact words were, "I can't stop looking at them!" Hahahaha. Then she asked me if I had knocked anything over with them yet? That would be a negative, although I guess there's a first time for anything.

Besides finding out about the baby's gender, I have also been feeling Little G move SO much! I'm looking forward to the day that R can feel him kick. It seems that we may have a soccer player in the making ... at least I hope so. :)

Less than 48 hours!

In less than 48 hours we will find out whether Little Bean is "hamburger" or "hotdog," as my brother-in-law so eloquently said today. :) I have been waiting SOOO long for this appointment to finally get here!

Although it was hard to go back to work after Spring Break, it was an easy transition having Friday off for the Easter weekend. We took my niece to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3-D yesterday and spent some good time with the fam and friends today. Life is good!

I'm officially a mom

Well, it's "official." Besides my ever expanding belly, I moved over to the mom side this past week when I got a new car! My mazda has been good to me, albeit my bad luck with flat tires, but R wants me in something bigger with Little Bean.

Sooooo after test driving a handful of cars, I found the one I liked and R went in with his checkbook. Thanks babe!

Now I just need to sell my Mazda...

The 2006 Mazda3



And my new 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe (mine's in silver)



Given the fact that my car has been hit while parked FIVE times (and only 2 of the offenders left notes), I have promised R to park as far away as possible. I can only hope that my car karma will change.

In more exciting news, my sister found out she is having a BOY!!! They already have two little girls, so we are all excited they are adding a boy to the mix. I'll have to say that as more time has passed, I get just as excited about the idea of having a girl. I know I've been saying all along that I would prefer a boy, but I really just can't wait to find out. Either way, I know Little Bean is perfect in every way. We find out in less than two weeks if it is going to be a Mama's Boy or a Daddy's Girl. Our names have been picked out for many weeks - that was the easy part.

P.S. My goal of making a home cooked meal once a week has been more of a meal every other week. Over spring break I made chicken marsala with couscous and green beans. Another success!



P.P.S. I was grading homework papers the other night and just couldn't resist. Directions: Write a word with short o. The result? Fockse = foxy. Haha!

I am a bad blogger

I have thought of writing several times this week but didn't. I can't say I didn't have the time because I did have time to check out other people's blogs, facebook, etc., so my only excuse is I am a bad blogger.

This week is Spring Break for teachers and kids alike - yea! Although the pros of being a teacher may not be longer than some other professions, Spring Break definitely makes the list.

So far I have:
-Test driven a few cars.
-Done a lot of sleeping. Meeeee? hehe.
-Checked out some local baby stores and started the process of figuring out what I would like to register for. Time consuming because there are so many things to get and I want to research them all, so this is the perfect week for that.
-Caught up with friends ... usually accompanied with food = my favorite.
-Had my teeth cleaned, wax appointment (turns out waxing is more painful when you're prego), and a facial/backcial, aka back treatment.

Things still left to do:
-Test drive more cars.
-File my taxes.
-Cook a meal.
-Go shopping for maternity clothes with mi madre and mi hermana.
-Grade papers.

All in all, not a bad Spring Break, if I do say so myself.

I had my first experience last week with a random stranger coming up and touching my belly. Well, maybe I shouldn't say random stranger. It was a mom from my school, but I have never met her or talked to her before, so it still counts as a stranger to me. It is definitely a strange (that's probably why they call it "stranger") situation to have someone you don't know touching your belly - I wasn't a big fan.

The other night I was seeking out some ice cream. I checked the freezer and was happy to find not one, but TWO different flavors...



But when I opened them, they both looked like this...



Whaaaaaat? R has told me many times that sweets (mainly ice cream and cookies) will not last long in the house. I can accept that, but for the love of all things holy, please don't leave EMPTY containers to trick* a prego lady who has ice cream cravings! *He wasn't trying to trick me - his reasoning is that he was waiting until trash day to throw them out, so it was decided that I will just have my own ice cream container that he cannot touch. Lesson learned for me but problem solved. :)

A website I have started perusing with some frequency is etsy.com. There are some good finds if you are willing to take the time and look. I haven't purchased anything yet, but I have bookmarked many items for the future nursery of Little Bean. R was looking over my shoulder the other day and gave this shirt I happened upon on etsy two thumbs up:



Go figure.

One of things I mentioned earlier (if you have made it this far in my random post) is that I had a dentist appointment. I have been with the same dentist all of my life and pay extra money with my insurance to be able to still go to him. The hygienist that usually cleans my teeth wasn't there, so I ended up with another lady ... older, very nice. However, during my teeth cleaning, she is asking me if I have a birth plan?

1) It's hard to talk when someone is cleaning your teeth. 2) That's kind of a personal question, but whatever. I tell her that I want to avoid a C-section if I can, and that otherwise, I will listen to my body and see how it responds in regards to needing pain meds, etc. She is quick to tell me that she had 2 C-sections and how great they were, she wasn't in any pain, her scar is so small, she left the hospital w/in 24 hours, etc., etc.

So my first thoughts are: How long ago was this? Everyone reacts differently to different procedures, including an epidural, C-section, whatever. But I keep my mouth shut (not literally since she is still cleaning) and just nod my head. But THEN she goes on to tell me the mother of all stories. How one of her friends had a natural birth and tore from her v* to her a* (she said the whole word - I just can't bring myself to do that on this blog). AND that every time her friend would stand up, all of her poop and pee would just come out.

Okaaaaaaay, so now my thoughts are: Why oh why are you telling me this?!? And, please hurry up cleaning my teeth so I can get out of here!

It was the most interesting dentist visit I have had in a while. I hope my regular hygienist is back next time.

Things Pregnant Women Never Want to Hear...

"You're going to have a big baby!" - from my favorite custodian at school. The same one that at 8 weeks asked if I was fat or pregnant.

"Are you having twins?" - from a random stranger in the waiting room at work tonight.

Yeaaaaaaah, so apparently people think I'm showing more than I should at 16 weeks. My next appointment is tomorrow, but alas, no ultrasound is scheduled. My first question to my doctor will be, "Are you sure it's just one?" My sis was gracious enough to share a story about a recent delivery at her hospital where a woman gave birth to twins, even though all throughout her pregnancy they had only detected one baby on the ultrasound, one heartbeat, etc. Makes me nervous!

I might try to pressure cook my doc into letting me get an ultrasound before 20 weeks just to ease my mind. When I asked R what he would think about having twins, his face became a shade paler. My grandmother had two sets of twins and my mom is a twin, so it's not totally out the question. We are hoping that if there were really two they would have caught the other by now. Unless he's really good at hide-and-seek. Oh please, Baby Jesus....

On the brighter side, my big sis gets to find out this Thursday what they are having!!! It's crazy being pregnant at the same time as my sister and only 3 weeks apart!

March Madness

Wow, I cannot believe it is already March! The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind, and I am just doing my best to keep up with everything and everyone.

My kids were very excited to see snow at school. We went outside twice just long enough for them to get their excitement out and to have the experience of snow in Texas. Most of my class had never seen snow before, so you can only imagine how wound up they were! We celebrated the snow day with hot chocolate at the end of the day. Since it was also Little Bean's "first" snow experience, I felt compelled to document it:



I've made a goal of cooking one meal at home per week. I busted out my recipe box and decided on meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a squash/zucchini mix. R enjoyed it and said he would eat it again, so mission accomplished. I'll probably attempt something this week that I've never made before - that way I know which recipes to keep and which to throw out.



Pam and Jim had their baby on "The Office" this week. If you don't like this show, we probably wouldn't be good friends. Of course I HAD to watch, and I told R it was important because I wanted to compare my future birth to Pam's. Hehe. In addition to me not wanting to imagine my body going through what I know is inevitable in just over 5 months, I also worry about having a baby that is not good at latching. However, since that one sperm managed to find his way to the golden egg through the birth control gates, I'm thinking it must be of the super sperm variety so I probably shouldn't worry too much.

P.S. Two movies that I have seen advertised for rent that I have no desire to ever watch: