21 weeks and the news is out!

Yes I am huge. Yikes.

I am 21 weeks and 6 days pregnant today. As I sit here typing this Jake is kicking me hard enough that I can see my belly jump a little. Amazing doesnt describe it. The whole pregnancy has seemed like some whirlwind journey. First I couldnt believe that we got pregnant so quickly, then I had a hard time believing that it would be viable, and now I just cant believe that in about 4 months we will be parents to a beautiful boy. Insane. I am sort of a "see it and believe it" type of person. But nonetheless I am really getting excited to start preparing everything for baby Jake. The nursery hasnt even been started yet. But I am completely finished with my stash of cloth diapers, and I have a great headstart on other baby items. But the nursery bothers me. Santa (in the form of my parents) are hopefully going to be gifting us our crib and dresser set for Christmas. And after that I plan to have the nursery done soon after. I will be unstoppable! I cannot wait for everything to be in place for our beans grand entrance. And it will be, soon.


This week has been busy but wonderful. Thanksgiving was very nice with my family. Unfortunately we missed seeing DH's family this year, but we hope to make up Thanksgiving dinner with them sometime soon. We popped the news of the gender on Thanksgiving which added a little more fun to the day. Everyone is very excited to be welcoming a boy to the family. I got some Christmas shopping done as well which is nice. I am about 2/3rds done with my shopping, YAY!

This week in baby growth:

Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for hydration and nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies are most interested in tastes they've already experienced through amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you want your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

And this week in crafting I have finished/almost finished a few projects. After looking at this moblie from BuggaLove Bugga mobiles and seeing that it was ::gulp:: 70.00, I decided I would try to make my own, mimicking the style.

Buggas

Mine

Truthfully I really like the way mine turned out. And it only cost me around 20.00 as opposed to 60.00. It did take me about 3-4 hours, and it was a bit tedious. But so worth it! I used two sizes of embroidery hoops, with fishing line, pretty scrapbook stock, and a large star stamp. I traced the smaller stars and cut them (as well as the moon) out by hand. I am going to TRY adding some beads in between the stars, and hang a few strands of beads in between the star strands. But if it looks terrible I will scrap that and leave it as is.

I also managed to finish knitting a blanket and a hat for Jake. Here is the hat:

It is knit with cotton, and I plan to start some booties to match this week. This will probably be a part of his coming home outfit. They should match the CUTE longies I bought for him to come home in. They are blue and green and have Squirt (the little sea turtle) from Finding Nemo on the butt. I hope to get a bunch more hats knit soon. I am getting some 12" circular needles which will help immensely. I LOATHE double pointed needles.

So that's all for this week! Check in for a new post next week!

BabyLemon is a......

Well many have been waiting patiently for this post. So here it goes!

BabyLemon is a BOY!!!






We are so excited to welcome John "Jake" Aaron into our lives. Many of you know I was hoping for a little girl, but I cant be more excited to think about having a little boy just like his daddy running around! He will be beautiful and so loved by everyone. His name comes from our families. My father, grandfather, and brother share the name John. And my Pepa was called Jake by everyone who knew him well. So we decided to go with John for a first name, but to call him Jake. Its Greek tradition to use the fathers first name as the son's middle name. So Aaron will be his middle name. We cannot wait for our Jake to be here with us!

20 Weeks and a little late...

Okay so I am technically 20 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Since we are going by my new due date which is April 5th, per my ultrasound. I lost two days, so its not so bad. But I am a little late on this one.

This week has been good, I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving. I love being with family and friends, and of course I am planning to make lots of yummy vegetarian foods to eat. I will be getting a Tofurkey to cook as well. Its a nice imitation of turkey and tastes a lot like a pre-made turkey that might come in a can or something. Its yummy for one day. But I dont need to eat it often. I have a big project due on Monday so that kind of puts a damper on my weekend. But we had a great time today at the football game. Bulls won by a smallish margin, but at least we won! And we got to have a nice tailgating breakfast of pancakes, hashbrown casserole, and fruit before the game.

I took a 20 week picture but I havent gotten it onto my computer yet. So I will add it in tomorrow along with the pictures from the game.

Here is the 20 week fruit comparison for BabyLemon:
Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, speaking of the diaper situation... baby's genitals are now fully formed!


**Stay tuned for a post on BabyLemon's gender on Thursday!**

19 week bump...

I pretty much feel huge already. This cannot be a good sign.

I got my TIckety Bu blanket!

Squeee (as we Eff'ers say)!!! I just received my TicketyBu blanket that I managed to snag on a stocking at Fresh. Oh I didnt mention this you say? Well I managed to get extremely lucky during an early morning stocking of TicketyBu at Fresh on Hyenacart.com. Its a gorgeous blanket done in a mix of blues, greens, and cream. Very gender neutral and just velvetty soft. I am in love. I cant wait for the little one to be here so they can give this blanket the love it deserves.

Here it is in all its soft glory:

And yes it is as soft as it looks. I am so glad I snagged one, so now I can focus on other obsessions. Diaper bags anyone?

19 weeks today and an Ultrasound!

We had our big ultrasound today as our 19 week milestone hit. It was amazing. I LOVED seeing the baby moving and kicking and happy in there. I wish I could do it every.single.day. We definitely got a gender, but I will wait to post that until Thanksgiving day. Yeah, yeah I know you are all grumbling about that. Sorry, I am a big fat meanie.

Here is the profile of little John "Jake" Aaron or Mason Nicole
That is an elbow behind the mouth. The hand was behind the head.
She also told us that the baby is the size of a soda can, and that the head is up towards my ribs and the butt is down towards my legs. That explains a lot of the movements I feel. Although I know that they change positions pretty frequently now.

Here is the fruit/vegetable update for 19wks

Mango
Vernix caseosa, a greasy white substance made of lanugo, oil and dead skin cells (yum) now coats baby's skin, shielding it from the amniotic fluid. (Picture yourself after a nine-month bath, and the need for protection makes sense.) You might actually get to see the vernix at birth, especially if baby is premature.

And finally I have been doing a little knitting this week. I am really enjoying the knitting group I have joined with a friend on Monday nights. It allows me to get some knitting done, and to have help with any questions during the knitting. The ladies there are really nice and so knowledgeable about knitting. My shorties (shorts knit from wool that go over a cloth diaper, called a soaker) turned out okay. They are kind of messed up, but for my first attempt I think they are pretty good. They have an elastic waistband, and will probably fit between 3 and 6 months.

18 weeks and things are moving along!

I am 18 weeks pregnant (Okay 18 wks 3 days at the time of this writing). Wow! I cant believe it has gone by so fast. I literally only have 5 more months until we meet our little one. That's insane.

Things have been busy here, I have been getting some prep work done for a big project coming up in my class this semester. And also trying to get my plans started for my practicum in January. I found out that I will be staying at the school I am at now until Christmas break. Which is great because I really enjoy the school and the kids. Plus I truly enjoy the consistency of being at one place daily.

I have been feeling great, almost normal on some days. The baby is moving and kicking with force now. I started feeling the movement last week, but this week its gotten more frequent. Yesterday it seemed like he/she was moving around all day long. But I feel the most movement after eating, and in the evenings. Only 4 more days until our Anatomy scan! I think I want to keep the gender a secret until Thanksgiving. It will be a nice surprise for dinner for our families. But we'll see.

Havent had a ton of time to do crafts this week, so nothing new to post there. But I have had some time to shop. And I have been stalking HyenaCart trying to get a Tickety Bu blanket for awhile now. Well I didnt get a full size blanket, but I did manage to snag a Bitty Bu set (which is a small blanket/lovey). Here is what I snagged:


These blankets are a hot commodity, they are made from Organic Bamboo Velour and are buttery soft. She also hand dyes them and they are absolutely gorgeous. Despite stalking several of her stockings at various shops on HyenaCart (a website for work at home mom's to post their wares) I have not been able to snag one. I have managed to get on her customs list, but it will probably be months before she gets started on mine (because I am about 30th on her list). You can check out her stuff here:

http://ticketybu.blogspot.com/

I managed to find a seller on Etsy who does similar blankets that are equally gorgeous, so I may just end up getting one of hers. I want that to be my first purchase after we find out the gender. This one is calling my name:

Enough about blankets though. Here is the weekly fruit/vegetable update for baby Lemon.

Sweet Potato/18 weeks

Your fetus has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to you), passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, baby's finally big enough that you'll be able to feel those movements soon.

17 weeks and going strong!

17 weeks and 1 day

This week has been a busy and exhausting one. It always amazes me how busy life gets once school starts. The fall is my very favorite time of year because it cools off (or it USUALLY cools off, not this year apparently) and its overall a time of friends and family. This week I of course worked and had lots of schoolwork to complete. But this weekend was really busy. Friday night DH and I had a football game (which we won...GO BULLS!) so we left straight from work to get there. It was a good game that didnt get over until midnight. I then had to get up to go to work at 9am the next morning, and worked all day. Halloween night I accompanied my sister and niece as they Trick or Treated. Bella came along as an angel. Then today I am working again and have a family dinner tonight. I so often wish that I had a normal weekend, one in which I could accomplish the things I need to get accomplished. I am blessed to have both the jobs that I do (when so many have none) but sometimes it is truly exhausting to work every single day.

The pregnancy is going well. I felt the baby move for the first time on Monday night. Let me tell you its a very strange sensation. It felt as though something was swimming in my stomach. I have been feeling pretty constant movement since then. It usually happens right around bedtime, but just yesterday I started feeling it during the day too. I am also feeling more kicking sensations. DH is really excited to feel the baby, but alas I think its going to be awhile still until that happens. We have only 1 and a 1/2 weeks until our big ultrasound! SO.FREAKING.EXCITED!!!

So for my weekly fruit (or vegetable) update.....17 weeks = ONION!

Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.

Oh I have also finished a few more onesies and here they are. They include my DH's favorite one which reads "Little Lemon" accompanied by a cut-out of a lemon. I plan to make a few of these in larger size onesies.