31 Weeks

Well, my fellow readers, I am very sad to report that I have run out of photo space on my little blog! I will continue taking pictures and hopefully my handy IT husband can help me revamp this so I can continue adding photos. Or, you know, I'll just have to pay for Blogger to host my pictures. ;)

**Will write a separate post on the awesome baby shower thrown by MiMi when I am able to post pictures again!**

Bebs: This week, Bebs measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (about the size of a pineapple) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's probably moving a lot, too! (Yes, yes she is!) Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Ikea: I love Ikea. I love that it's big enough to be an airport and that is completely overwhelming and I'm afraid I'm going to get lost the entire time I'm in there. I love that they really do have a TON of functional, stylish pieces for literally every room in your house...and it's affordable! I also love how most everything is written in a different language!

In true Hebs and Hubs fashion, we had researched the pieces we thought we wanted, only to get there, see something else and completely change our minds. :) We're always on the same page, though! We still kept with our theme of white furniture and the crib I had been obsessing over for a few weeks. Our original plan was to get a changing table, tall dresser, and shorter dresser that were nice and a little cheaper. We figured those pieces would last through toddler years (and maybe baby #2? ;)). Then we fell in love with another white furniture set. More expensive, but hopefully better quality, and that will last until Bebs is in high school. :)

List of Gratitude

1. My grandparents for letting us borrow their van for our trek to Ikea.
2. My parents for driving said van and for letting us bounce our (ok, "my") furniture concerns off of them.
3. My Hubs for rubbing my restless legs and feet before bed, understanding I was a bit crazy picking out a crib mattress, and putting on/taking off my socks each day.
4. My mother-in-law MiMi, my sisters-in-law Tara and Raechel, for throwing me and Jason a beautiful baby shower! It was wonderful seeing all of the Ebersole/Paradis clan. :)
5. Dexter, for being extra snuggly with me lately...even though he is smelly. Despite his best efforts, he has not gotten a hold of any of the baby gifts, either!
6. Thankful for the opportunity to see not only our families, but our friends tomorrow on Thanksgiving. Football with friends, dinner at the Mullens, and then dessert at Mona's!
7. While I'm sad I won't get to see my brother Ryan for Thanksgiving, I'm glad that he loves what he's doing and will be spending Thanksgiving with Caroline and friends in California!

30 Weeks

30 weeks down, 10 weeks to go!!!

Bebs: Bebs is about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in theuterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

Hebs: I've been feeling pretty good lately! I'm finally sleeping better, now that I've taken back my Mommy Boppy! ;) There are so many pillows surrounding me, I never know if Hubs is in the bed or not!

Acid reflux issues seem to have relaxed somewhat. The Tums and Maalox have been really helpful. If anything, I'm just exhausted again. I feel more tired now than I did in the first trimester. Getting out of bed, bending over, and sometimes even just sitting are difficult. When I sit all day at work, I swear, the baby is laying across my ribs. It's getting hard to breathe!

Cute Dexter story:

The other night I was laying on the couch and Dex was being surprisingly snuggly with me. He was laying right next to my belly, chewing on his bone, and all of a sudden Bebs started freaking out in there. It felt like she was rolling over. I could definitely see a knee? elbow? some body party protrude out from my belly, and it brushed against Dexter. He sat up, stared at my belly, looked at me with his "pug head tilt," sniffed the belly and then started licking it! Maybe this is all coincidence, or maybe he really does know what is going on in there! :)

Funny Dexter story:

Since our house now looks like a Babies R Us (which we are BEYOND thankful for!), Dexter likes walking around the living room and smelling everything. He is very interested in the car seat, as well as my Molly doll sitting in the car seat. The other night Jason snapped the carseat in to the snap n' go stroller and wheeled it around the house. Oh boy. Dexter did not like this one bit. He ran after the stroller, barking and growling, like when he tries to attack the vacuum. I guess he needs to get used to all of these new things!

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is a week away! ONE WEEK! Once Thanksgiving is here, then it's only a month until Christmas....and then it's only a month until Bebs' due date! These next 10 weeks are going to fly by.

Here is what I'm hoping we accomplish by the end of this month...
1. NURSERY
2. NURSERY
3. NURSERY

We need to paint the trim and closet doors, clean out the closet, buy our furniture at Ikea, put said furniture together, and then decorate and organize everything! I can't wait! I feel like my nesting instincts are in overdrive and the only thing I've "nested" was underneath my bathroom sink, lol. I got super motivated to clean it out and organize it. I want to do that to the entire house, but I don't even know where to begin!

Looking forward to another busy, fun-filled weekend! Saturday we are going with my parents to pick out adorable, white baby furniture at Ikea. Sunday, my mother-in-law, MiMi is having a baby shower for me with Jason's family. I can't wait to see everyone! :)

20 Weeks

Ohhhh oh! We're halfway there...

Bebs: Baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. S/he's also around 6.5 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against the torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of the head to his/her bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, s/he's measured from head to toe.) Bebs is swallowing more these days, which is good practice for the digestive system. S/he's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in the bowels, and we'll see it in his/her first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

What's going on in there?

Hebs and Hubs: We went out shopping this past weekend to take advantage of some Labor Day sales. We were on a mission for a new couch for our upstairs awkward living room (not the room the TV is in). We found an awesome red couch at Ashley Furniture! Hopefully we are able to pick the couch up this weekend and can bid adieu to the flowered couch, AKA "the pee couch." Unfortunately Dex has marked his territory one too many times on that poor couch. He won't be allowed anywhere NEAR our new red couch!

Hubs on the couch! (No, those pillows will not be coming home with us!)

After our couch find, Jason and I headed to Ikea. OMG! Have you ever been to an Ikea? It was an airport! There was even a cafe and a child care center! We could not believe how huge it was. We looked at some of the living room furniture before making our way to the baby furniture. Adorable, functional, affordable...we were in love! We found a crib, changing table, and two dressers that we'd like to get for the nursery!

Crib and changing table we liked!

Jason and I went out for dinner with my grandparents, Nana and Pop-Pop, this past week, too. They spoiled us and gave us gifts: a changing table, boxes of diapers, and even a breast pump for me! I think we may keep this changing table downstairs (to make it easier on us), and then have another changing table in the baby's nursery. I've been reading on my birth board that a lot of moms don't feel the need for one, but a changing table was one thing I was weirdly looking forward to! So I plan on having two. :)

I also hung out with my parents this past weekend, too, while Jason was at his fantasy football draft. We went to Olive Garden for lunch (yum!) and then looked around Babies R Us for awhile. After wrestling with it and reading the instructions, we figured out how to collapse and re-position the stroller I wanted to register for. I also found the carseat I liked. Bonus: the carseat will fit into the stroller! Once we knew what we were doing, it was very easy to manuever. :) Then of course, we had to check out the adorable little outfits! Thank you for an awesome afternoon, Mom and Dad!

Pug keychain for the diaper bag and beanie baby pug for Bebs!

Hebs: I cannot believe that I am already 20 weeks! I feel like the first 20 weeks just flew by, which makes me hopeful that the next 20 weeks will fly by! Well, they can start flying on by AFTER the nursery is painted and decorated. ;)

The morning sickness and headaches seem to have stopped--knock on wood! Feeling my skin stretch around my belly has been weird, but usually lotion helps. I'm still having skin issues, which is incredibly annoying. I'd like to know when the glowing phase starts? I thought pregnant ladies were supposed to glow?! My face is breaking out worse than when I was a teenager, my already thick hair is basically now a bush growing on top of my head, and I already feel like I am waddling a bit! Ah, pregnancy. :)

Exciting News: Hubs and I are able to find out this Friday what the gender of Bebs is!!! We cannot wait! Ever since I took the pregnancy test, and it was positive!, I've been so sure that Bebs is a boy. If it is a boy, we already have a name picked, nursery theme idea, etc. We are totally set. If Bebs is a girl, we will still be ecstatic, but will need to get moving on nursery ideas and a name!

While I've been picturing Bebs as a boy this entire time, the many times I've dreamed about the baby, it's always been a girl. I have a very vivid recurring dream of Jason, Dexter, and a toddler girl (wearing a teal jacket, pink hat, and pink pants!) playing in the leaves in our backyard. (The backyard is also fenced in, which ours isn't now, but we'd like to do it in the future). I'm watching them play from the deck and then I yell "Jason! *girl name!* Time for dinner!" and they come running in. The girl has blue eyes like Jason and thick, wavy hair like me. Weird? Cool? Foreshadowing what is to come? I don't know. I definitely like having that dream, though. :) Oh, and it is totally true what they say about your dreams being incredibly more vivid during pregnancy!

Gender Reveal: Hubs and I decided to have a small get together Friday night for our parents, siblings (that are in the area!), and a handful of friends to tell them Bebs' gender! We asked everyone to wear pink or blue to show their guess, and I made a few props as well. I will definitely post the news and pictures after we're able to call the rest of our family to tell them the news! :)

Introducing a new segment....
At our yoga class, the instructor told us about keeping a "gratitude journal," where we just jot down things at the end of each day that we were thankful for. They can be little things, silly things, big things, important things...it doesn't matter. I think it is a good exercise in helping me keep in mind that pregnancy and the little banana inside of me is a miracle and that each day I have so many things to be thankful for that sometimes are taken for granted.

List of Gratitude

1. My parents and grand-parents. They have been a huge support emotionally and even financially, by purchasing some baby things for us. They do it out of the goodness of their heart and I wish I could express just how much I love my family and what they mean to me.

2. Jason. I know I've been super irritable lately, especially about my appearance, but I appreciate that you still tell me I'm beautiful and that you love me. I appreciate that you also have been helping me a great deal with housework and taking care of Dexter when I just don't have the energy.

3. My home. I'm beyond thankful that I am able to live in a beautiful home and have people willing to help us make it even better by moving furniture, painting, doing yardwork, etc. It's just a huge weight off of my shoulders that we have wonderful friends and family who are willing to help us.

***A big CONGRATULATIONS to our friend Jeff on becoming an uncle! His sister Lisa and brother-in-law Steve welcomed their daughter, Lily, into the world this morning! Happy Birthday, Lily!***