22 weeks (and one day)

So here is my picture from Monday (I failed to take pictures on the past two Sundays).

I'm still growing!  I gain weight steadily every week and it's mostly all in my belly but I am starting to notice a little bit in a few other places.

I am finally feeling him!!!  Everyone I've talked to and everything I've read said that most people first felt little butterflies or bubbles or flutters in their bellies.  I did not feel any of that.  The kid straight jacked me.  The first time I felt him (right before 21 weeks) I think he threw a right jab and I about jumped out of my chair.  The second time I felt him I think he donkey kicked me because he didn't like my arm resting heavily on my belly.  There were no sweet little bubbles or slight flutters going on in there.  So that's how it's going to be I guess.  I have felt some more subtle movements since then but they are still pretty aggressive.  Sometimes it feels like he's doing water aerobics or perfecting his synchronized swimming moves and other times it just feels like he's practicing tae bo.  It's so amazing to finally feel him moving and it startles me every time I feel something.  I try to explain to Ryan what I'm feeling but it's so difficult to put into words!

Also in the past couple weeks I've entered a new phase of eating.  I'm still fairly averse to certain items but I now have started to crave sweets and that is really not typical of me.  I mean it's not that I didn't like sweets before but I have generally always been the type to forgo sweets in favor of salty/savory but now I'm just the opposite and that isn't really a good thing!  Any type of cake, pie, cookies, candy, brownies...I want to stuff in my face.  This is so unusual for me and I really have to watch it so I'm trying to keep a lot of fruits around the house to hopefully substitute for other sweets and cure that craving in a little more healthful manner.  I wouldn't say it's exactly working yet though...

Ryan's Life

Poor guy can't catch a break.  He gets smothered by everyone in this family (four-legged and two-legged), whether he's awake or at rest.

It's a...

BOY!!!!!!!  Do you think he's going to be mad at me later in life when he finds out I posted pictures of his privates before he was even born?  I had been so convinced for most of my pregnancy that I was having a girl (and that's what most people guessed too!) but not long before the 20 week ultrasound I had a few people do some "tests" on me and all those came back as boy and then my Chinese family all guessed boy so I started to have my doubts about having a girl.  It is so exciting to now know what gender we're expecting and was such a cool moment when the ultrasound technician said "You're having a boy!"  Although now I'm extra worried that my prediction of having a mini-Ryan is true.  Not that Ryan isn't completely awesome and I love him very much (I married him, of course) - but he is extremely ornery and full of energy and always into something so I foresee lots of those two boys getting themselves into all kinds of ornery things.

Everything checked out great with the ultrasound except the doctor said I may be having a giant or the due date is about 2 weeks off and should be moved up.  I'm hoping it's the latter and not the former.  He wants to wait until the 28 week ultrasound to make any decisions but it sounds like baby boy is healthy as a horse.

I'm continuing to grow and even though I feel as though I've changed dramatically I must not look  super different because even now when we tell people they are shocked.  I wonder if they just think I ate a couple extra sandwiches for lunch or if the fact that I wear a lot of black makes it less obvious.  Or maybe people are just polite and don't want to say anything and I am shy (me...shy...when did that happen...maybe shy isn't the right word but it's something like that) and I don't say anything either until the opportunity presents itself.  

Now that I'm over halfway, I've had a lot of people mentioning "baby showers" to me.  At first, I hadn't even thought about them.  And then when more people started talking about them I started to get overwhelmed thinking about them.  But finally, some colleagues at work already started planning one for June and said I needed to get serious about registering.  LOL!  Sooooo...now that we know it's a boy, Ryan and I "registered" this weekend.  I put "registered" in quotations because what we did was kind of hilarious.  I mean, we can think logically about the things we might want and there are a few things that it seems everyone needs but really, before you have a baby do you really have any idea what works for you and your baby?  So, our registering was quite comical and I'm pretty sure we walked away having registered for items that in no way match other items we registered for and probably registered for things we may not really want/need and probably missed some things we might want/need.  I figure we can adjust it as we go along and thankfully that can be done over the internet instead of going to the store.  I tend to err on the side of thinking less is more although with all the stuff out there that can be difficult.  For any moms reading - are there things you just couldn't live without?  I'd be happy to hear any thoughts.   

I will try to post a picture of my 21 week belly tonight.  

This weekend was beautiful so we went cruising in The Church Lady.  Ryan took me out for a beautiful dinner at Bella Bistro, which I really appreciated as it was the first really nice dinner I'd been to ever since I got pregnant.  And we went to Morrison and had breakfast one morning at The Blue Cow.  It was adorable and was so nice to get out to eat considering I didn't feel like doing that  for a long time.  

20 weeks

Well, here are my 20 week photos from Sunday.  I had to change into a lighter top because I didn't think you could really see the extent of my belly in the black dress I was wearing that day.

So yep - I'm still growing.  Now it seems like exponentially so.  My 20 week sonogram is tomorrow and if baby is cooperating we will know if it's a boy or girl!  So far I have 8 guesses for girl and 5 guesses for boy.  Of the guesses, 3 were pseudo-scientific and of those 3...all of them came to the conclusion that it will be a boy.  The first person to guess it was a boy based it on my cravings of sweets/carbs, the second did some funky voodoo on my middle finger pads, and the third took a ring on a string and held it over my belly until it started swinging back and forth.  I think it will be so much fun to finally (hopefully) find out!

Some of the other stuff going on around here:

Here are pictures of my new laundry room cabinets and new washer and dryer.  I LOVE the laundry room now!  Years ago Ryan put in a slate floor for me and painted the walls red so now with the new additions it is complete!  We knew we would be needing a new washer and dryer for  a long time but were trying to hold out.  Finally, when the dryer took THREE HOURS to dry a load of towels we gave in and got the washer and dryer that Ryan had been researching.

Ryan potted some herbs to grow in the house and planted the rest of the veggies in the gardens.  Some wascally wabbits were digging up the carrots but one or some of our fur children killed the rabbits and China then ate the rabbits until we (Ryan) could find and dispose of the various rabbit parts.  Now that RabbitGate is over the only offenses to our veggies have been committed by our dogs.  We caught Peanut gnawing on a jalapeno plant.

I got to go to New York for a tax conference and my room looked right down into the heart of Times Square.  I don't have quite the energy these days as I used to so I wasn't hopping all over town like I did last time I was there but I still got to enjoy some nice dinners out.  I went to a place called Patsy's that they say Frank Sinatra used to frequent and then I had a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.  My shrimp scampi at Patsy's was delicious and I would definitely go back again.  The frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity was marginal in my opinion; however, I think anyone that is a true chocolate fan would probably love it.  It was just a little too semi-sweet/dark chocolaty for me and it had a lot of ice crystals in it, which I'm not a huge fan of.  Clearly, I am not in the majority when it comes to my thoughts on the frozen hot chocolate or the place wouldn't be so famous.  I would definitely go back because it is a super cute place but I would order something different.

Ryan went turkey hunting in South Dakota.  Unfortunately he didn't get one but I had a nice weekend of bonding time with my fur family.  And like any respectable wife would do when her husband is gone - I watched Magic Mike. 

Oh, and I made this beautiful shrimp pasta.

Anyway, cross your fingers that Ladasha (that's what we call the baby) isn't shy tomorrow!

Simple Math

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That's right folks!  Ryan and I are expecting a new addition to our family in September.  I am just a  touch over 19 weeks right now.  We've been pretty slow about announcing and there are still some people we haven't told personally but it's starting to get a little hard to hide...18 week pic:

19 week pic:

Wow does it look like I changed tremendously in just a week's time.  And actually, I kind of did.  I was able to wear some of my real pants up until about 17 weeks but for the past couple weeks it's been all maternity pants all the time.  And maternity shirts are also starting to become a necessity.  But I also maintain that the 19 week picture might be slightly skewed because it was taken right after dinner, which included 1.5 large chocolate chip cookies and a large glass of milk.

Thankfully, I have a pretty good appetite now.  The first trimester had this girl (who usually lives to eat) running away from pretty much anything that wasn't a fruit or some type of bland carb.  Well, I should clarify - the first trimester other than the first 5 weeks when I was pregnant but didn't know it yet.  During those first 5 weeks we were tipped off that something might be going on with me because I would wake up every night and raid the kitchen.  Ryan thought we had raccoons or something!  He said he'd hear rustling in the kitchen late every night and then wake up the next morning to a mess and half the food was gone.  Anyway, back to the part where I started not eating.  I never knew such extreme feelings of food aversion were possible!  I still am averse to some food, such as meat and Asian food, which are two things I normally love.  I really hope I can start liking Asian food again at some point because that has always been my favorite thing ever and it's important to me to get back to Hong Kong more frequently than in the past and I'd like to be able to enjoy the cuisine while I'm there.

Also during the first trimester, I was so tired I could barely drag myself out of bed in the mornings.  And then I would feel EXTREMELY exhausted ALL DAY LONG.  Even though I was so tired I still wasn't able to sleep at night...which added to the exhaustion.  Thankfully, I don't feel quite that worn out now; however, I haven't gotten an energy boost like a lot of women and books say happens in the 2nd trimester.  I would say I'm much more energetic than I was first trimester but I'm nothing like I was pre-pregnancy and I still don't sleep very well.  But really all in all I feel pretty great and can't complain because I don't think I've felt nearly as bad as a lot of women do during pregnancy.    

I am still able to work out so I am happy about that.  I ran a 5k when I was 12 weeks and still jog (slowly) and attend spin classes now.  Tonight I tried this elliptical looking thing only it makes lateral movements instead of anterior/posterior.  Wow!  I think my glutes and abductors/adductors are going to feel it tomorrow.  I think I am now obsessed with this new to me machine.  

All of the doctor's appointments have gone well up until this point.  I've seen three different doctors on three different visits and each of them has commented on how "active" this baby is.  Basically, I think I'm having a mini-Ryan (whether it's a boy or girl) that is probably going to be up at the crack of dawn ready to go for the rest of the day.  Lord help me.  Maybe now Ryan will have someone that can keep up with him.

So next week is the ultrasound where, if baby cooperates, we find out if it's a boy or girl.  Based on my symptoms and pictures - any guesses on the gender?