32 Week Pregnancy Update

Why does saying that I only have 8 weeks left feel like I could have this baby at any second, but then when I say I have 2 months left, I want to cry because it feels like she is never ever coming. Time is weird. I wish it would stop altogether so that I could prepare more, spend more time enjoying my husband before our roles change forever, spend more time sleeping and more time having clean hair and a clean kitchen. I know this is all going to change drastically once my babe makes her appearance. And as frightening as all of that is, I also can't wait. Every day, her nursery gets more and more put together, she kicks and squirms and gets hiccups, I dream about her face, and her demeanor and if she will have hair. She's already so special to me.

So for the updates!!

How Far Along?

I'm 32 weeks exactly

How Am I Feeling?

Feeling great as always. I'm still sleeping through the night with no problems. I rarely have heartburn anymore. The only real issue is the pain in the back and under my belly when I'm on my feet for too long. But honestly, it's such a small issue, I can't even complain.

How Big Is Baby?

Baby weighs 3 3/4 pounds (about the size of a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in my belly. I'm gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to baby.

Weight?

From Pre-pregnancy weight to today I think I've gained roughly 23 pounds. Not bad, not bad at all!

What Do I Miss?

I can't think of anything I miss really. Everything is so perfect right now, I honestly don't have anything to complain about. 

Symptoms?

Just the round ligament pain and lower back pain. But it is only a real issue if I'm on my feet for more than a few hours. So it's not even that bad.

Cravings?

I was asked about cravings last night at my baby shower  about cravings and I had to think really hard. I actually haven't been craving too much, I'm just back to normal with being able to eat everything. My sensitivity to spicy things has completely gone away, and I can enjoy my chips and salsa in full force! I guess the only thing I could say I crave is easy meals. I am not a huge fan of cooking at the moment (hence why my food blog is suffering) , and I'm guessing my back pain is to blame for that. So we eat out a lot because I'm just too lazy to make something that takes more than like 3 minutes to make. Needless to say, we eat a lot of hot dogs, quesadillas, sandwiches and bowls of cereal. 

Highlights of the Week?

So many Highlights!! We were able to finish painting the nursery a few weeks ago and I'm just thrilled with how it turned out!!

The coloring here is a little darker than it is in real life, but I think it just looks lovely. She will have white furniture and other grey and dusty pink accents and in the end it will just be wonderful!

Last tuesday Alex had the day off, and we were going to go out and get some new dressers for the nursery. And as I was saying that out loud to Alex I realized how silly I sounded. Now, you should know that our bedroom is a mishmash of hand me downs and free items found on the side of the road. So I decided that a newborn baby was NOT going to have brand new furniture before I did. So instead of buying baby stuff, we went to American Furniture Warehouse and bought a whole brand new bedroom set! I finally feel like a grown up. The bedroom is beautiful and I couldn't be more excited with how everything turned out. My family also needs a shoutout, because since we were getting all new furniture, our bedroom was completely cleared out. I have always LOATHED the paint color in my master bedroom. The previous owners did not do a nice job and did an extremely strange tree mural on one of the walls. I just knew that while all the furniture was out we HAD to paint it. So my amazing family, came over and helped us paint the whole room in just a few hours! So now instead of being an ugly blue, and dark purple with random tree murals, it's a lovely soft blue that goes just beautifully with the dark wood of our new furniture!!

 Is that not the ugliest thing you have ever seen in your whole life? ugh. the trees are horrible and you can see a little bit of the dark dark purple that was on the other wall above the door.

This is the new color. fresh, clean and lovely. 

(cumberland fog by behr.)

The new furniture. It looks amazing!! And it looks even better now that the room is put back together. We have bedding and things on the walls and curtains are hung. I will do a full reveal of how it looks a little later, once everything gets situated. 

This is me at 30 weeks.

An extra highlight for the past little while would have to be Alex talking to my belly. Is there anything cuter than your baby daddy talking to his little one through your belly? I don't think so. Usually at night, while she is kicking up a storm he will put his hand on my belly and get up nice and close and say "Hi baby, this is your daddy. I love you so much. Be nice to your mom and don't kick too hard. We can't wait to meet you." And my heart melts into a big puddle and it just love it so much!! 

Baby Shower Numero Uno

Let me start out by saying how incredibly blessed I am to have such a loving support group who want nothing more than to celebrate with me and help me be ready for this little babe, who will be making her appearance shortly!

The minute I announced my pregnancy, my dear friend Melissa Tyler texted me instantly and told me that she HAD to throw me a baby shower! I couldn't have been more excited that she wanted to do that for me. She is a SUPER party thrower! She threw my bridal shower, and my wedding reception and they were both the most amazing parties ever. Melissa seriously has a talent for party throwing!

We didn't discuss much about the party, all I told her is that I wanted things to bright and florarly! And she delivered! I showed up at her house an hour before the party started and was amazed at how cute everything looked!! I was greeted with bright pinks and oranges, and flowers everywhere. We had cake pops, and cheese balls, and all the sweets an expecting mother could hope for!

I had so many friends show up to celebrate with me, and it was honestly overwhelming, all the love I felt from everyone. The fact that these wonderful women would take time out of their extremely busy lives to come and be with me and my little girl was so special. I loved seeing all the gifts and hearing why these women loved what they were gifting me. Hearing first hand how helpful things were, how fun certain books were, how yummy smelling this lotion was, and how much their babies responded to being swaddled in specific type of blanket. It calmed me, and made me just that much more excited!!

Adorable leg warmers from my mom.

Freaking cute baseball jumper from Hope. She also gave me a black tutu to go with it so that she wouldn't be mistaken for a little boy. 

Little Rory. Always needs to be the center of attention ;)

Good thing she's stinking adorable.

Beaded Socks!! 

Wonderful handmade quilt from Grandma Perrine! I was so excited when she walked in. It was so good to see her, and it made me feel SO SPECIAL that she would drive all the way up from Tucson to celebrate with me. I love these quilts that she makes for all the grandkids, and now she has made her first quilt for her First GREAT GRANDCHILD!! YAY! She hand draws all the little drawings in every square, and it just makes it so much more personal and special! Thanks Grandma!!

It's wonderful to know that I have the amazing support group behind me, ready to help at any moment and I am so grateful to have such amazing friends and family! 

Baby McHardy is definitely so blessed and loved already!!

Week Twenty-Five

Oh baby updates... How i love you. It just means that i am that much closer to meeting my sweet little stinker!! Twenty Five weeks have flown by, and it's actually freaking me out how soon she will be here. I know that 15 weeks isn't actually that soon... But still, man if the months keep going by as quickly as they have been, i'm in big trouble.

So here we go with the baby questions:

How Far Along?

I'm 25 weeks and 2 days

How Am I Feeling?

Still feeling awesome. I'm so happy to say that I'm still sleeping through the night no issue. My heartburn as subsided for the most part. My skin has cleared up, my appetite is right where it should be. I'm going to the gym a few times a week to just walk on the treadmill or the elliptical and that feels great. I have no swelling or anything like that. It's fabulous. I do get out of breath quite quickly, just walking up the stairs takes it out of me. But that's really the least of my worries. I'm just so happy to be so blessed with a happy healthy pregnancy.

How Big Is Baby?

Head to heels, baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight is 1&1/2 pounds, and she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat.

Weight?

This is the first update where I have some actual weight gain to report. In the last 5 weeks since my last update I have gained 7 pounds. Dr. says that I'm perfectly on track in my weight gain and so I'm just eating what I want when I want and it seems to be treating me just fine!

What Do I Miss?

Breathing through my nose. I suppose this should go in the symptoms section as well, but oh my gosh! My nose gets so congested at night when I lie down. It's horrible. I talked to my dr. about it and he said that it's totally normal because my body has 50% more blood coursing through it and so my sinuses get a little enflamed making it hard to breath. My poor poor husband... I snore so bad at night it's just so embarrassing. Alex now sleeps with earplugs so that i don't keep him up... oh man, isn't pregnancy so so glamourous... hahahaha.... /sigh The worst part of the congestion is that it isn't like a sickness where I know I will be better and breathing normally is a maximum of like 2 weeks... with this pregnancy congestion I know that it wont get better until this little babe comes... and that is still a generous amount of time away. We are now taking donations for better earplugs for my husband.

Symptoms?

Other than the aforementioned breathing issue, I'm doing okay. A few Braxton Hicks here and there, and still a generous amount of round ligament pain that takes my breath away it's getting so painful, but I'm tough, and it's not too terrible at all. 

Cravings?

My sweet tooth has come back in full force and I'm been LOVING root beer floats. So good! Also, I've been baking more, and I've made cookies and muffins and so many tasty treats. I also, love peanut m&m's and chocolate kisses... oh gosh. I'm also craving greasy fast food. But this month I am trying SO HARD to not eat out/spend money and so I've been making turkey burgers and pizzas at home, which makes me feel a whole lot better about myself and how i'm feeding my little one. 

Highlights of the Week?
This happened a few weeks ago, but I have really been feeling the baby move. I love laying in bed in the morning and putting my hands on my belly and feeling her kick and squirm and bounce around. It's just so surreal. Alex has been able to catch a few kicks, but it's like her own personal game to kick up a storm, and then as soon as Alex touches my belly she completely stops until he takes is hands away... little booger. HA!

I can already tell she's gonna have a big personality. We are in for a fun journey. :)

Baby Woes

Yesterday I went to Babies R Us with my mom and sister and we had a grand ole time looking at all the wonderful products. So many adorable things. From car seats to bouncers to changing tables. Did you know changing tables could be cute? I didn't. But just go to Babies R Us and be swept away by the adorableness.

Don't even get me started on the the clothes they have there. I mean I could spend more on this little girls wardrobe than I have ever spent on mine... Luckily Grandma Davis is already on top of spoiling Baby Girl. Yay Grandmas!

But the thing is all of the cuteness comes at a price... A really large, gut wrenching, awfully expensive price. It's depressing really. I just want all the cute baby things. Is that really too much to ask?

Here is my wish list so far... I will list the items and then give you a grand total... and then we can cry together, okay? Okay.

Baby Trend Travel system is $213.99 on amazon. We love this stroller because of the big bicycle wheels and, the great turning ability and the fact that it's a jogging stroller means that it maneuvers wonderfully over all different kinds of terrain. I also love the color. Not too girly, not too boyish. Perfect for all our kids. Love it. Also the car seat that comes with it has the awesome triangle handle that makes carrying the baby so so easy and comfortable. This is the stroller we will get no matter what. 

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I love this bouncer. It's the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo. And it's $89.00 on amazon. It's so cute and colorful and has so many fun little toys attached to it. I also like that it is open on the bottom and they can just bounce bounce bounce! I love how it looks so much better than the ones that are plastic all on the bottom, ya know. 

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This is the S1 Pack 'N Play by Safety 1st. This one is from Babies R Us and its $129.89. This things that I like the best about this is it's bassinet feature. I love that there is a removable little rocker that i can carry around where ever I am and the baby can be super comfy. I also love the little changing area attached to side so that in the middle of the night, i can easily pick her up and change her without running around the room. and that's where the side little organizational part comes in super handy. I just really love it. 

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I don't even know if i can talk about this chair without getting sad. I love this glider so so much. It glides and swivels around 360 degrees which makes getting up with a sleeping babe in your arms so much easier. This beautiful glider is from Potter Barn kids... and are you ready for the price of this bad boy? oh man. the chair alone is $849. and then to get the matching foot ottoman is an extra $399... see why i want to cry? $1248 for a chair for my baby to spit up in... trust me, i understand how insane it is. But it also doesn't stop me from checking the vending machines for extra change to try and save up for this beautiful masterpiece. 

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This is the bedding I am currently looking at, but it could change in the next few months. I know i do want to use the colors grey and purple. I love that it isn't overly girly. I've never been into frilly pink baby girl stuff. So I think a soft purple is the perfect option. This bedding set from Babies R Us is $189.99. I know that it can be way cheaper, but in a perfect world, where I could get everything I want, this is what I would choose. 

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I love the look of a smile white crib. I like this one from Wal-Mart. It's pretty cheap compared to everything else. This is probably the least stressful purchase we will have to make. It costs $149.98. I think it will look so great with purple and grey bedding.

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This is my favorite swing. Soft neutrals, pretty melodies and different swing settings. I love that you can rock side to side or back to front. I found this on amazon and it costs $139.00

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Well there you have it. Okay, are you ready for the grand total?

$2159.94

Good Heavens.

Now, before y'all start going crazy and saying how dumb I am and whatnot let me say that by no means do we plan on buying all of these things brand new. I am aware that craigslist and goodwill and DI and garage sales and amazing places to find baby items at the fraction at the cost. And that gives me hope that our baby won't have to sleep on the ground and be pushed around in a $15 baby doll stroller. haha This is just my dream baby wish list :)

Anyways I am off to look at nursery boards on Pinterest and do more research on baby bottles and breast pumps. Life of a first time mom. Glamorous I tell ya ;)

Halfway Point Update & A Special Surprise

Excuse me while I have a little dance party.

I AM HALFWAY DONE!

Now don't get me wrong, I have actually LOVED being pregnant. It's been really easy for me, and I love knowing that I am creating a life, and that this is the best calling I have on this earth.

But, being halfway done means that I am just that much closer to meeting our sweet little baby. And that is so exciting!!

So I think it's time for a little pregnancy update.

How Far Along?

I'm exactly 20 weeks today :)

How Am I Feeling?

I'm still feeling great! All pickiness with food has gone away completely and I am definitely able to eat veggies and not want to die. Haha. And I'm still sleeping well at night, well besides having super obnoxious jet lag that wakes me up at 3:30 am. But once the jet lag goes away i'm expecting to still be able to sleep well through the night at least until the 3rd trimester. I'm super happy and optimistic about everything and I'm just enjoying this time to relax and be a little selfish, cuz heavens knows that will all change very quickly.

How Big Is Baby?

babycenter.com says that baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. Baby is also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — about the size of a banana. 

Weight?

I am happy to report that I still haven't passed my pre-pregnancy weight. I lost those 11 pounds in the beginning, and so far i have gained back 10 of those pounds. So i'm sure that in the next update I will have finally started to gain "baby weight" But for now i'm happy to still technically be -1 lbs. YAY.

What Do I Miss?

I miss my regular pants.. well no that's not true because freaking maternity pants are so dang comfy. But I do miss the selection of clothing i had before. And if it weren't for my blessed mother, I wouldn't have anything to wear besides pj's. I went to the mall with my mom a few weeks ago and she suggested we go into Motherhood Maternity. I wasn't planning on buying anything, because Ross is more affordable my style. but I tried on some super cute capri's and some leggings and a dress just to see how i liked it, and my darling mom BOUGHT IT ALL. She's the best. 

Symptoms?

Like I said before I have been blessed with an amazing pregnancy, and I've still been so healthy. While we were in Spain, I had one terrible night of throwing up, but it was over quickly and relatively painless. I have also been experiencing some round ligament pain that has made it pretty painful to walk around but since I just stay at home most of the time, I have been able to relax and spend time on the couch doing fun things like blogging and catching up on Law of Order. Good times all around. 

Cravings?

I've been craving Jamba Juice a lot. and I'm still just loving rice and potatoes and pasta. Yay Starch. :) But I am also able to eat salads and healthy things a lot more easily than before. 

Highlights of the Week?

We had an ultrasound appointment on monday and Alex conveniently had the day off, so he came with me and we were able to find out the gender!!
I won't keep you in suspense any longer. We will having a baby GIRL!!! 

We couldn't be any more excited! Now it's time to start thinking about names and nursery colors and what not. I'm so excited to be having this little lady! 

Week 15 Baby Update

Hooray! Since we have finally announced the pregnancy, I can write up my first pregnancy update. I feel so lucky to be going through this amazing process and I want to document it as best I can. :)

So, here we go!

How Far Along?

I am 15 weeks and 4 days! My due date was May 28th, but I am measuring small, so to avoid disappointment, the doctor moved the due date back to June 2. 

How Am I Feeling?

Honestly, this WHOLE pregnancy has been AMAZING. I was never sick, or nauseous at all. Just a little picky with what I wanted to eat. So that was amazing (And I did throw up once, simply because I took my prenatal vitamins before I had eaten any breakfast... not a good idea) And this last week has been to different. I've been energized, and upbeat, and I totally have my complete appetite back (and then some... haha). 

How Big Is Baby?

babycenter.com says that Baby is about 4 inches long from head to bum. And weighs about 2.5 ounces, which they say is approx. the same weight of one apple. 

Weight?

In my first trimester I lost 11 pounds, so that was nice. and in the last two-ish weeks of having my appetite back I have gained 3 pounds... So from becoming pregnant I am still -8 pounds. Which is so okay with me. 

What Do I Miss?

There isn't much I can't do at this point. So I don't have much to miss. I guess I could say that I miss work. I quit nannying about 3 weeks ago, and I do miss those sweet girls. But I am happy for this new chapter in our lives. The girls have an amazing new nanny and I couldn't be happier with who took over for me. But I do miss my little ladies.

Symptoms?

I have been blessed with an extremely healthy pregnancy, so i haven't had too many symptoms. But I have noticed a few things that can be attributed to the pregnancy. I have had some terrible migraines, but I notice that I only get them if i am not drinking enough water. So as long as i keep hydrated, i'm good. And I have had heartburn once so far. I also have super obnoxious acne. Honestly, it's not that bad, but i have had great skin for most of my life (Sidenote: I had THE WORST ACNE ever ever ever when i was younger. I got it really early. like 5th grade. and in 8th grade my parents finally got me on Accutane, soooo ever since then, my skin has been awesome to me...) but yeah so the new acne spots are definitely NOT appreciated. But to telly ou the truth, of all the horrible pregnancy symptoms I could be having, I really shouldn't complain about a few pimples on my cheeks.

Cravings?

In my first trimester, I only craved apples and cheese. there was one time where i was at the grocery store, and i was craving cheese SO BAD. I opened a cheese stick and ate it while I shopped and then just handed over the wrapper to pay for it... the cashier gave me the strangest look... haha. I also craved tomatoes and oranges and bananas and pretty much all fruits and veggies. My naughty craving is Top Ramen... its horrible i know... but i can't help it. I just love it!!! And I couldn't even stand any sort of meat. My poor husband had to live with pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches for the first 12 weeks because raw meat was a bad bad idea. But in the last few weeks, chicken has been okay. But mostly I am still wanting rice and pasta and bread and fruit. 

Highlights of the Week?

This week I finally think I have started to show a little bit. :) So that was really exciting... until i realized that it meant the end of wearing my normal pants... 

Alright guys, i hope you enjoyed this update! 

See ya next week!

Thanksgiving & Family Update

Guys, I have been waiting for SO LONG to be able to write this post. I'm so excited to finally share my secret, and start writing about everything on a much more consistent basis.

I should begin by saying that this year I decided to take on the task of hosting Thanksgiving at my house! We wanted this Thanksgiving to be combined with my family and Alex's family! I am so grateful that we both adore our in laws, so the idea of having everyone under one roof was anything but scary. Our families get along wonderfully, and i just knew that the day would be filled with so much laughter and love. I'm so super lucky to have an amazing mother and mother in law who insisted on helping every step of the way, so I honestly didn't have anything to stress over.

My saint of a mother took over pretty much everything and made sure that every aspect of Thanksgiving was taken care of. Weeks ahead of time she was out shopping, up late crafting, and menu planning. She bought so many things and made sure that I didn't have a huge financial burden by hosting.

The day before Thanksgiving, my family came over around 5:30 and started helping me clean up and set up and decorate and everything else. My mom also lit our entire Christmas Tree and helped decorate it so that it would look spectacular for the following day. They decided to all spend the night so that we could be up and at 'em bright and early. It also meant less driving and more quality time, so i say that is a win-win ;)

We turned on the Christmas tunes, ordered a few pizzas and had a blast just spending time together. Alex was my hero and ran to WinCo at 9:00pm that night and faced the mobs for me and picked up a few items that I had forgotten. Bless Him!

The next morning the boys woke up and went to our wards Turkey Bowl. Ian even came out to join because of how awesome it was going to be. They were gone for a few hours and when they came home they were exhausted, which means that it was obviously a successful Turkey Bowl.

While they were gone, Mom, Grandma and I were able to stuff and prep the turkey, get casseroles put together, set the tables, make stuffing and gravy and basically everything else necessary. My mom also decided that she was going to make a tasty breakfast! She make homemade pumpkin cinnamon rolls and eggs with turkey sausage!!! I'm telling you, my mother went above and beyond for me! I definitely appreciated all the helping hands that morning. It made everything go so quickly. There was always someone washing or wiping something down so my kitchen never even got that messy!

Around 11:30 the McHardy clan started showing up, and we watched the football game (which we aren't going to talk about, because my Packers got smashed...) and snacked on some pre-thanksgiving food snacks. Then my Father in Law made mashed potatoes and we were pretty much ready to go at that point!

I think we ended up eating around 3:15, which was the goal! Hooray! There is a tradition in the McHardy House on Thanksgiving where the Head of every household present says a Thanksgiving prayer specifically for their family. It is a tradition that I always loved in previous years when attending Thanksgiving at my in-laws, so I am glad that Alex decided to continue it at our dinner. My Father in Law began and said a lovely prayer, mentioning his wife, and his children, but somehow he skipped a few kids. After my dad's prayer regarding our family, my Father in Law recognized his mistake... halfway. He started to say thanks for Alex and all of his hard work. Then he was finished again and passed it on to Ian. But we were all laughing pretty hard because he had still forgotten Max! My Father in Law joked that if you aren't sitting at the table, you will get forgotten. Then quickly said thanks for Max. Once all of the McHardy siblings had been prayed for Alex said a beautiful prayer about our little family that made me cry. I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and his loving words.

After prayers were said we broke out the food! Everything was delicious! We joked about how upsetting it is that the food takes hours, if not days to prepare and then people are done eating it within a matter of minutes! But at least that usually means that everything available was just really delicious!

The nice thing about having so many people over for dinner is that the kitchen gets cleaned up amazingly fast! After clean up we relaxed and visited, and also broke out a fun little Christmas puzzle to work on.

Pie was consumed a few hours later. My incredible Mother in Law made all the pies and every single one was beautiful and delicious! Our dear friends Mark and Hope also came and joined us for this part of the evening and I am so glad they were able to stop by!

It was a great Thanksgiving and I couldn't have asked for a better family to spend it with. But I'd have to say my favorite part of Thanksgiving was the Facebook announcement I was finally able to share!

 I knew from the second we found out that we were expecting, and that I would only be 14 weeks on Thanksgiving that this is how I wanted to announce it! I am so happy to be blessed with this little family! We definitely have SO much to be thankful for this year.