12 weeks

Big changes this week!!!

This is our last week of the first trimester. We saw the baby (and its heartbeat) at 10 weeks, and we get our FTS (first trimester screening which is an ultrasound and blood test to determine risk of birth defects) on Monday. Fruit wise, we have graduated from lime to plum size,

Movement: I KNOW they say you aren't supposed to be able to feel anything until 15-20 weeks, but my doctor asked me and you know what, as someone with a food allergy, i'm pretty familiar with what gas feels like, and gas does not feel like a little fish in a bowl. I can tell when the little Rebel is moving in there, and that's kind of fun. We confirmed during the ultrasound that we have a little wiggler.

Me: Well, it's official, my boobs are going to be huge. Right now, they're kind of a spectacular size for me, and i'm enjoying it. They are a little sensitive and I am down to my very loosest/least padded bras (of which i have maybe 4-5). I was a 32B and am pretty much spilling right out of those. At 12 weeks. I've never been a C in my life and they are clearly going to get much much bigger. I'm hoping my boobs don't get too stretch marked but will not be surprised if they do. They are growing NOW though which may mean i accumulate it over time and not stretch as bad. fingers crossed. The belly has begun to pop, not enough that anyone who doesn't know i'm pregnant will be like "oh! baby!" but enough that if you know i'm pregnant, you can tell my belly is ever so slightly rounder. Obviously it pops a lot more after meals because there's less room to hide my eating habits. lol.

Changes at home: There are changes to the house that we've planned for 3 years so... we painted the bathroom because i wanted it that way and have been asking for months. We installed a large bookshelf in our bedroom today, because our books can't stay in the nursery. We'll be painting that room also. Our living/dining room floors are getting redone in 2 weeks! yay! smooth, durable floors!!! That i a baby can crawl on and that wipe clean with ease! The nursery will be painted and i'll choose a gender appropriate decal when we learn the gender at the end of april (either cherry blossom branches for girl, or bare tree branches for boy). We've already moved Honey's food dishes to the kitchen and she doesn't seem to mind one bit. We'll start finding new places for her many possessions in the coming weeks. We've moved a total of 7 times with her, and she's a pretty go with the flow dog. I think wherever her favorite bed goes, she'll go.

Baby stuff: In general, I'm not letting myself get super excited until i know the gender, because it just sucks not being able to look at all the cute little gender specific things, but being "out of the woods" means i can be a little excited. I had done some of the baby registry stuff online, but today and yesterday we went and did the registry stuff in stores (mostly, i'll admit, so i could get the free goody bags). We never did the in-store registries for our wedding, so getting to go around and scan stuff was actually pretty fun. For me: Bob bought me a "mama to be" kit at motherhood maternity with sugar scrub, body oil, and body lotion. For baby: we're trying not be purchase heavy, but we bought some baby proofing things(like outlet covers) at Target, and a soft knit blanket and plush elephant at Baby's R Us. Like I said, mostly we went for the goody bags. Our freebies, amongst many coupons, included: some baby proofing stuff (free by mail), 2 pampers sample bags in cute little pouches, 2 types of baby bottle, a pacifier, and lots of little skin samples. i also did one of the just pay shipping baby slings. The bag for the target goodies is actually a pretty decent bag itself, and definitely reusable.
Random fact: motherhood comes in a sealed plastic envelope package, target comes in a reusable waterproof low grade vinyl bag with velcro, and baby's r us comes in a paper gift bag.

Aside from home improvements, this "weekend" was our first real go at "baby stuff" and i think we both thought it was kind of fun. we only spent 1-2 hours doing it so we didn't get worn out.

The only other baby thing I've bought is blank board books to put my own children's stories ("Grandma Knows Everything" "All The Things That Pappy Does" and "Kissed By The Fairies") on, and baby announcements. Since we find out the gender 3 days before a big family vacation, they custom made my "crack the quail egg" announcements so i can pop in the note with the appropriate gender right before we go. Mind you, these are $7/each so i bought 5. One for my parents, one for Bob's parents, one for each of my two sisters that will be on vacation (the other is in Africa, so no mailing eggs), and one just for us to keep :) I suppose i'll mail out a basic baby announcement after, but really only care about announcing to our immediate families. My co-workers will find out with cupcakes when we return from vacation. Shhhh ;)