26 Week Updates: Baby 2.0

How far along? 26 weeks today!

How big is baby? Baby is estimated to be around 13.75 inches long and 2 pounds in weight. Her lungs are now fully formed and her fused eyelids will start to open this week.

How big is Mama? Up just shy of another pound from last week, at 134.6. Slow and steady. It doesn't help that I can't really do ANY exercise due to my sore hips… though I am still doing nightly stretches to ease the pain. Baby girl moves a lot on and off throughout the day, and at this point it appears she still has a lot of room in there, as some days I feel her moving up high near my ribs and other days she's way down low by my cervix.

Sleep? Doing well overall- though I did have a pretty long bout of insomnia last night in the middle of the night (possibly due to the cookies consumed before bed?)

Food cravings/aversions? I was reading back on Iyla's updates and saw that I couldn't stomach tomatoes during her pregnancy- and interestingly enough, she has a tomato allergy. This kid definitely doesn't want me to eat seafood (still!) so I am curious if that may manifest in her preferences once she is out in the world.

Symptoms? The Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction continues to plague me. Lots and lots of burning, ripping, and tight pain across my pubic bone, inner thighs, and hips. It's worse after sitting for awhile or standing too long and from everything I've read, BIRTH is the only real "cure."

Big Sister? My online Mama group had a challenge this week to post pictures of us alongside our kiddo when we were their age. People tell me ALL THE TIME that Iyla is my mini me, and I do see it in moments (mostly in the eyes), but overall think she looks like her own unique person (and also my mom).

However, I did dig up a picture of me around her age where the resemblance is definitely there- again in the eyes:

According to my Aunt Sheri (who is holding me)- this was my "Princess Leia" phase

A few more photos of Iyla from the past week:

Prepping for breakfast out with Papa

Ready for a rainy day at school

Rainy day ringlets! She requests her hair to be done in "Dumbo ears" all the time now, which means two either half or full ponytails.

Boat safety day at swim lessons

Weekly ballet class- one month countdown until her recital! And she still almost NEVER does what the teacher asks. Should be a hilarious show to watch!

Zilker Park train ride

She loves this concrete wheel at the park and always does little shows on top of it

Nursery? It was a big week in that we finally ordered the nursery furniture! At this point with Iyla's pregnancy we already had the furniture fully assembled in her room. This kid's furniture? Scheduled to arrive sometime in late June (ha!). I'm really not worried about the time lines, since I know from experience that baby will be sleeping in our room for the first several months. However, I do NOT want to be assembling a nursery AFTER baby arrives, so onward we go with the preparations.

Step 1 will be selling the current guest room furniture, step 2 painting the room, step 3 installing curtains, step 4 putting in the furniture, and then finally we'll finish out the room with art, decorations, a rug, filling the dresser drawers, etc.

Baby girl's crib (we got a matching dresser as well)

This is the pattern that will be on the chair I ordered (which will be a different style). I plan to have this sucker in our room initially for middle of the night feedings.

Most looking forward to? We leave in just a few days for California! I honestly haven't had much time to actively think about the trip, but AM excited to have a full week lounging with BC. Given my (mostly) inability to walk much these days, I'll be happy to just go on beautiful drives, lie in our hotel bed, read books, and have delicious meals.

We are also excited for Grandma to arrive! When we tell Iyla it is almost time for Grandma to be here, she'll exclaim "TODAY?!" to which we have to explain it will be a few more days still. : ) I told her Mama and Papa will be getting on an airplane for a trip to California while she and Grandma have a sleepover party, then we'll be back to see her again. To which she'll either reply: "I'll miss you!" or "you'll be so glad to see me again!" She gets it. So much so that last night at bedtime she regressed a bit and did NOT want me to leave the room like I usually do. She's one smart kiddo.

I also cannot WAIT to walk/exercise/hike again once this baby girl joins us in the outside world. I do love being pregnant (love feeling her inside me and watching my body transform)- but it will be oh so nice to be able to move and sit normally again.

On that note I scored a HUGE deal on a brand new BOB Double stroller this week- found one at our local baby store that was marked 10% off. I had a 20% off coupon on top of that, and upon noticing that one of the wheels wouldn't inflate (likely due to needing a new tube- super easy and cheap to fix) I negotiated another 10% off, for a total of 40% off! That got the price down to what these strollers typically sell for on the used resale market. SCORE! 

20 Week Updates (and Nursery Furniture!)

Babycakes and I had a lovely evening celebrating our 4th anniversary. We had an incredible meal at the Driskill Grill in our beloved Driskill Hotel- complete with a fancy congratulatory dessert. We then spent the evening watching our wedding video- put together by the fabulous Rings and Cake company. Having a videographer was a last minute addition to our wedding planning & budget, and one that initially BC wasn't so sure about. Turns out it was the BEST investment we could have made, as we savor the tradition of watching the video every year on our anniversary.

Anniversary dinner shot. 

The "girls" were out on display- they are definitely filling out clothes better these days!

Our nursery furniture was delivered today! Everything but the rocker & ottoman came. It is amazing how a room that once seemed huge now seems TINY with all of this stuff. I had hoped to keep our futon in the room for nights when I had to crash there, but now I am seriously reconsidering that. I could always snooze in the rocker....

Here are the "before" shots of the room:

And here are the "after" shots:

Dear Futon, you've served this room well- but I think I see you getting booted to the 3rd floor in the VERY near future.....

Here's a shot of the fabric & design of the chair we ordered from the Little Castle company (through Buy Buy Baby). I LOVE it- and it was half the price of the Pottery Barn model I liked! It will also take up quite a bit of room.

On to my 20 week updates- halfway through this pregnancy!

How far along? 20 weeks today

How big is baby? She is compared to the size of a banana this week, and is really developing her taste buds. She samples everything I eat or drink (she *might* have tasted some sips of champagne last night), and apparently my tastes now can/will influence her preferences later.

Weight gain? I was up 5.5 lbs this morning! I think our baby girl is going through a growth spurt. I've also had two huge dinners the last couple of nights, and (sounding like a broken record here)... not much is coming out again.

This is only 4 days after my 19 week picture (that one was taken late)- but I do think I am really starting to pop out more!

Sleep? Starting to get a little more challenging. I am trying hard to stop sleeping on my back, so brought in a couple body pillows to snuggle with on my side. I am most comfortable on my left side (which thankfully is the side that is best for pregnant ladies to be on)- but staying there all.night.long can definitely put kinks on my system (see hip issues below).

Food cravings/aversions? Nothing too interesting this week.

Symptoms? The worst this week is a pretty bad tugging/tightness across my right hip down through the groin. It happens mostly when I get up from sitting at my desk, and makes it hard to walk for a little while until I can shake & stretch it back out. I also got a migraine at my prenatal yoga class yesterday (yes- I've been going back to prenatal yoga! Happily have found a couple teachers I really like.) The class I went to yesterday was held in a room with frosted glass windows, and b/c the teacher stood in front of the windows while demonstrating it was a really perfect recipe to trigger my headache.

Most looking forward to? Starting to put together decorations for the nursery! Now that the main furniture pieces are in place, it will be much easier to design the rest. The walls of the nursery are a pale creamy yellow, and I envision white curtains, a white rug, and small tasteful accents of pink and sage green in a kind of french/nature theme (I totally made that blend up). I actually have a Pinterest board where I've been keeping nursery decor ideas (link here). I started it before we knew it was a girl, through it has always bent toward the girly (couldn't shake that intuition!)

19 Week Updates

I'm a bit behind on my weekly updates. Work has found me extremely busy- and I am welcoming the distraction with open arms. I have about 4 months left to build up our "baby fund" to have some time off with our sweet little one, so I need to rock n roll while I can!

How far along? 19 weeks

How big is baby? Weighing in around 1/2 lb, the baby is now about 6-8 inches long.

Weight gain? Up 3.5 lbs

Actually a 19w3d bump... definitely starting to pop out a bit more!

Sleep? My 'witching hours' returned for a few nights- where I wake around 3am with my mind racing & am then up for at least an hour trying to settle back to sleep. This usually corresponds to my work schedule, as there are a lot of to-do's crammed in my brain that seem to want to be addressed in the middle of the night.

Symptoms? I think the migraines are finally starting to get under control. I began talking a natural magnesium powder before bed each night, and (knocking on wood) haven't had a migraine in a week. The magnesium also has the added side effect of easing up the constipation. Woot!

I've been having tightness around my right hip- where the round ligament is. If I sit too long and then stand, it takes a while to stretch and ease into standing straight again. I've also been having some lower back tightness.

The coolest thing this week? On Monday night, at 19w2 days- I felt actual, undeniable kicks going on!! They are always just to the right and a little below my belly button. They'll come in little waves- several "pop pop pops" within 30 seconds before it is quiet again. On Tuesday I felt them 3 distinct times throughout the day. It is amazing, and I am so excited to know they will only increase. I can't WAIT for BC to be able to feel these too- when I laid his hand on the stomach the other night all was calm, and he surmised he had a relaxing effect on the baby. Last night I also had my first experience of actually seeing my skin "pop" out a bit where a kick was! Love, love, love it.

Food cravings/aversions? This week sautéed spinach is tasting amazing to me. I am still not hip on chicken (haven't been this entire pregnancy)- but this baby does appreciate a fine steak. : )

Most looking forward to? The delivery of nursery furniture this weekend! Seems early, I know... and was kind of a fluke. I went into Buy Buy Baby last week with the intention of ordering the set we loved, which I was told could take 9-12 weeks to come in. Low and behold the floor models were on sale and available for a huge discount, so I seized the opportunity to save money and the crib, dresser, & hutch will be arriving Saturday.

I also can't wait to share with all of you what we are having! We actually found out last Thursday and surprised my family with the news over the weekend. Stay tuned for my next post which will share the happy news.... we'll see whose predictions were right!