19 weeks....Halloween!

Happy Halloween Y'all!

Well if you guys know me well at all you know I am obsessed with all things Halloween. I love the decorations, the spooky stories (but not horror movies), the costumes (and ample craft opportunities), carving pumpkins and hot apple cider. The pumpkin patch, candy, trick or treaters, etc etc etc. I LOVE Halloween parties and costume contests. Going out with friends all dressed up in college was the best! and the best reason is because Taylor proposed on Halloween! (3 years ago today).

 

Halloween was awesome tonight! We of course had TONS of candy but almost all of it is gone. Our neighborhood was swarming with kids and it was so fun to see them all. They were all so polite too, "please and thank you" and "happy halloween" from every single one of them! even the teeny tiny ones. I loved it. I can't wait for little man to get old enough to go and experience why his momma loves halloween so much. It just made my heart happy to hear and see all the kids giggling and running around and having a blast. What a fun tradition and memories made for all of them. This is my first year in 3 years getting to pass out candy because I got scheduled to work each year, which broke my heart to have to miss out! But we also lived in an apartment for 2 of those years and we only had bratty teenagers with pillow cases and a weird mask with regular clothes come (according to Taylor) so I didn't really care too much, but this year, in our new house with our new young neighborhood I couldn't miss!

 

Cora had fun too and is worn out. First I spent a solid 20 minutes this afternoon messing with her and trying to get her to keep her witch hat on that I bought her. I knew she would never put up with wearing it but it was worth the $2 I spent on it at walmart to get one picture of her first Halloween with us. Poor dog. She did get about 15 cheerios out of the deal trying to get her to stay still enough to take a pic. Taylor came home and we ate dinner and right on cue the door bell starting ringing as soon as we finished and Cora came unglued. She was silent the whole time, not a peep out of her but she wanted to play with the kids sooo bad. She could barely contain herself. Now she is passed out, maybe I can quietly put the witch hat on her again and take one while she's sleeping. I'm mean, oh well.

 

poor tortured dog.

 

waiting for more little kids.

 

As far as costumes for me, I usually go all out, I buy the perfect shoes and costume and add to a store bought one or make my own completely. This year I went back and forth between copying Jessica Simpson and being a mummy for Halloween instead of a (soon to be) mommy and rockin the bump but I figured for just answering the door I wanted to be comfortable and was too lazy to make a killer costume so I just put orange glitter duct tape triangles and a mouth onto my black maternity shirt to make a jack o' latern face. I still felt festive without the effort and fuss. This is my first year not really dressing up and I felt like a traitor to my holiday but oh well. There is always next year.

 

 Honestly, This whole week has been a blast. Taylor and I started getting some things ready for the upcoming wedding next week and for baby's room. I went into full blown nesting mode the other day and spent four hours cleaning. I cleaned all of my baseboards and vaccuumed along every single wall with the hose including all the stairs and then the rest of the house. I mopped and cleaned our wood floors, scrubbed every inch of all of our bathrooms and generally picked up the place. I am sore now of course but I feel good about the place, I just couldn't stop. Taylor is gonna tackle and deep clean the kitchen this weekend and we should be all set for company :) I can't wait until everyone comes to town! They will be here from Thursday through monday.  Unfortunately I work the next 4 shifts in a row this weekend, fri-monday nights and It's going to kick my butt so the wedding and all the people will be an exciting reward for me. We also have our 20 week full anatomy scan and dr. appt on Tuesday so we get to see baby again for a 45 minute scan and make sure he looks healthy and my placenta is looking good still. I can't wait, I just love watching him!

Chalkboard time!

How far along? 19 weeks, baby is the size of a Mango
Total weight gain: I've gained 2 more pounds this week. total of -13 now. I am catching up I think but now I'm gonna start focusing on eating healthy instead of whatever will stay down which has been a lot of crap sorry to admit.

Maternity clothes? yep. See my pumpkin shirt this week that I made above.

Sleep: I've been sleeping like crap. I thought that this wasn't supposed to start until 3rd trimester but between my super vivid dreams that are often very scary and not finding a comfortable spot or temperature and having to get up to pee, it's been fun. I think God is prepping me for a newborn.  

Best moment this week: HALLOWEEN!!!!

Miss Anything? I kinda missed getting white girl wasted in a less than classy costume like I did in my college days but oh well, this is just as fun.

Movement: yep, he is rolling around and karate kicking me, It's still so amazing to me!
Food cravings: Not really anything this week bc of the massive amounts of Halloween candy I have been consuming.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope. I haven't been sick in a while now! Yay!

Gender: a boy pumpkin

Symptoms: Just stretching and growing, some sore hips at night but that's about it. :)

Belly Button in or out? in but getting much much more shallow now.
Wedding rings on or off? on
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!! I loved Halloween this week sooooo fun. I am already thinking about what little man is going to be next year.

Looking forward to: My family coming in town next weekend for my cousin's wedding. I love family time. And our 20 week sono.

What's in a name?

When we found out this little munchkin inside me (still suuuper weird to say) is a little boy we were so excited BUT that meant we had no name for him. Of course he is a boy because we have two perfect girl names (and we will be keeping those a secret for our next munchkin to come, if it's a girl, because we still love both of them). However, we didn't stress about a boy name because we were going to cross that bridge when we got there. Well, we got there. Boy land! And nameless boy land no less. The girl names came to us so easily. One is a name I have loved forever that Taylor happened to love too and the other is a name that goes well with the first one that we fell upon one day and both instantly loved. We can't say the same about a boy name. NOTHING has come to me in a  "THAT'S IT" moment. Now Taylor is a different story, he has loved the name Hudson all along and Hudson is a great name but it's not the name for our baby, I don't think about him and think "yep, that's Hudson in there". It just doesn't seem fitting. Not to mention that 3 people on my facebook have little boys named Hudson. I don't want to copy someone else and I don't want him to have the same name as everyone else in his classes at school ESPECIALLY because our last name is Smith. So what things are we considering when looking at names?

Must haves:

• Strong masculine sounding name
• We like traditional or old fashioned names
• A name that would be appropriate if he were President or the CEO of a major company
• Something that will grow with him and isn't just for a baby or little boy.
• Nothing that people will easily make fun of
• Something easy to pronounce
• Something easy to spell

Must NOTs:

• No Hyphens or apostrophe's
• No weird spelling of a normal name
• Something made up
• The name of an ex boyfriend
• The name of a good friend's child- no copying
• The name of a same generation family member (i.e. cousins or cousin's kids)
• Something that isn't easily shortened (i.e. Nicholas to Nick or Nicky)

You see it gets tricky. Maybe I am pickier than most, I am not sure. But I can't honestly believe someone would name their kid after their ex-boyfriend from college or the same thing as what their cousin just named their kid. I want my kid to have a good strong name that is unique to him but isn't something made up. I can't imagine that is too much to ask.....but it is.

So the hunt continues. Thank you all for your suggestions, we have had some awesome ones we are considering and some ones we are like NO WAY! But, that's the fun of having kids, you get to name them what you want! Everyone has an opinion and that is why there are so many different names out there which is great. The world we be no fun if everyone was named Lauren.

And for those of you wondering.... NO, we are not sharing the name before he is born. You all got to find out he is a boy so the name will remain a secret until it's written on his birth certificate and made official. If you don't like the name we choose, say it behind my back because I don't care, it's going to be something Taylor and I like and that's what matters.

And no, we have not decided yet. So if you have any suggestions that fit the bill of the must haves and must not's please comment and let me know!

18 weeks

This week was fun! Knowing we have a little boy on the way is definitely starting to sink in for me. I was honestly SHOCKED and it took me a long time to change my way of thinking because I had visions of pink tutus and white scrolled cribs and glitter and rhinestone headbands dancing in my head. Now I have switched to bow ties and teddy bear hats and cars and trucks and football games. It just took me a week to get there. I am having fun looking endlessly at pictures of nurseries and décor and clothing and boy things. I always wanted an older brother so I am very excited my kids will have that!

 

 

I can't get over the cuteness.

Taylor and I went to home depot and picked out a dimmer switch for the baby's room so that I can turn it on just slightly for midnight feedings and diaper changes. He is going to install it tonight I think. We also got toilet paper roll holders (ridiculous I know because we have lived here almost a year now). We only really use 2 bathrooms (our master and the powder room down stairs) so it wasn't a big deal but with all our family coming into town in 2 weeks for this wedding we felt it was time to act like grown ups and install them. We also picked up some swatches of paint colors for the baby's room. We haven't quite decided yet what we are doing for color but probably will get a dark brown wood crib and do the theme in vintage cars and airplanes. My brain is going nuts with ideas!! I know a lot of you are dying to see the finished product because you all know I am crafty so I will post updates with pictures as we go and try to do craft tutorials if there is something I made. My mom and I will be making the crib skirt, curtains, throw pillow for the chair in his room, lamp shade, burp clothes, maybe a few blankets etc for his room and I think I have found fabric I like :)

I will give my weekend recap as well because this week was kind of boring but the weekend was crazy busy and a blast!

Friday I ran a bunch of errands and met up with my gorgeous friend Jenna to give her the costume I made for her little girl. I made her a ladybug costume with a hand died long sleeve red onesie that had black glitter polka dots on it. A red tutu with black polka dots and homemade wings that Taylor helped construct and I decorated. It turned out precious and I cannot wait to see it on!

 

 

Then Taylor and I went to my good friend Shannon's wedding in Wichita. She made a gorgeous bride and while it was a little chilly the wedding was beautiful and really fun.

 The gorgeous girls, Erin, Courtney and Shannon. (all nurses I work with).

 

Congrats Shannon and Josh!

 

 The reception and incedible fountains outside the boat house.

Me and my cute husband!

 

This is my "dress" I wore to the wedding. It was actually a XXL tunic style sweater that was long enough to be a dress and fit the bump. SOLD! I accessorized with gold jewelry, a leopard belt and shoes. Sorry for the bathroom photo shoot, I promised my mom I would take a pic of my outfit (she helped me pick it out) and the night was almost over.

 

Saturday was full of fun too. It started with a first birthday party for one of my former patient's. It was minion theme, check out this adorable cupcake and cake pop!

 

Then I went to my cousin's bachelorette party. We went to Lulu's thai noodles down town and had yummy Thai food. Delish! I ordered a virgin raspberry daiquiri and man was it good! We opened gifts, ate dinner and cupcakes.

 The gorgeous bride trying to discretely open her gifts.

 

We got snacks for the chiefs game ( I made guacamole and queso dip) and  we got TONS of candy for Halloween. I filled up my entire glitter skull with all different kinds of candy and I can't wait to pass it out to all the trick or treaters in our neighborhood!

 

Chalkboard time!

 

 

How far along? 18 weeks, baby is the size of a sweet potato
Total weight gain: I've gained 2 pounds this week, could be all the cupcakes I ate on Saturday. I am at a total of -15lbs.

Maternity clothes? Found a cute sweater dress for the wedding, (that is actually a tunic style sweater that is 2 sizes too big), maternity dresses are hard to find and expensive. This works perfectly, I'm wearing it with tights and heels and a cute belt to accentuate the bump :) see above^^

Sleep: Slept a lot better this week.  

Best moment this week: Finding out it's a boy!! I'm so excited to plan and shop. YAY!

Miss Anything? Not so much, I love being pregnant!

Movement: YES!!! and now I am the laziest person on the planet because I just lay around trying to feel him. The best part was that I couldn't tell if I could really feel his big kicks on my hand (from the outside, vs. just feeling him move inside), So I had Taylor put his hand on my belly the other night and I felt little man kick and didn't say anything, all of a sudden Taylor looked up at me and said "Was that him?!" He felt him!!! So exciting. I think he thinks it's more alien and weird than amazing and cool like I do but whatever, he felt him!
Food cravings: Still apples, mac and cheese, milk shakes. Comfort food still.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I got sick the other day but just once and I don't remember what I ate. Other than that, things aren't really bothering me anymore. THANK GOD

Gender: MAN CHILD!!!! A little boy nugget :)

Symptoms: Round ligament pain still. Man that is just no joke, this child is growing growing growing and so my belly is too and the other day I got up out of bed really fast and It felt like someone snapped a huge rubber band from hip to hip below my belly. It made me hunch over because it surpised me so much and it's still sore a few days later, I talked to a nurse in L&D and she said as long as it's not intermittent pain like contractions and baby is moving and such I am fine but it kinda scared the crap out of this first time momma.

Belly Button in or out? in but getting much much more shallow now.
Wedding rings on or off? on....and loose.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!! I am just getting so excited to meet him already, I am in a much better mood now that I don't really get sick anymore and now it's just the fun stuff, shopping, planning the nursery, choosing names :) I am just loving this.

Looking forward to: PAYDAY!!! I need to bank roll this operation. I think it's a blessing we aren't having a girl this round because we would no doubt have to sell our house on account of the all the tutu's and headbands. Boys have less accessories but man am I having fun still. Also looking forward to deciding on colors for the nursery and getting it painted and starting decorating the nursery.

It's a........

BOY!!

 

 

Today was such an awesome day! Our family has been begging for  a chance to see the baby since we told them we got pregnant and as of right now we have had 7 ultrasounds due to being high risk from our infertility stuff to start and due to being in the hospital for fluids because of my vomiting and routine scan and then our spina bifida scare. But only 1 of those were "routine" to date and we were not dragging our circus to the doctor's office. So we made a fair compromise. We scheduled a 3D/4D sono at an independent boutique called Kansas 4D ultrasound. The package we got included:

 

• a 45 minute sono where we could invite whoever we wanted to watch
• a DVD of the entire scan start to finish set to music
• a build-a-bear of our choice (we picked a puppy dog) with a sound box that has the baby's heartbeat recorded onto it.
• several printed pictures of the baby
• and a birthstone bracelet for momma

The ultrasound group....can you tell who is related to who?

The people that own the studio are an amazing couple and were so wonderful to work with. The woman did our sono and Taylor's mom, my mom and stepdad, my little sister and my grandma all got to come. My grandma was the funniest because she was nervous about the whole thing. She has never seen an ultrasound and couldn't figure out how it worked and if It would hurt the baby.

 

 Some people think this is creepy, I think it's so cute! The baby's head is on the top center and he is looking toward us and a little to the right.

Little arms and big juicy umbilical cord, gross!

 

 

We got to watch the baby for a long time and when she first put the wand on my belly she immediately told us that she knew what the baby was. She had to look 3 separate times to be sure before she could tell us but finally announced "It's a Boy!". I was in absolute SHOCK. I swore from minute one this nugget was a little girl and was so convinced. But he definitely is a little boy, definitely.

 

 I would say the coolest part of the whole thing was toward the end she grabbed Taylor's hand and put it on my belly and told him to press down and watch the screen. Taylor pressed my belly and you could see his hand push the baby down a little! It was amazing that he could basically touch him, I immediately started crying ( I know, you all are shocked) but the sonographer was telling us how important it is for us to bond with the baby and I get to bond by feeling changes like my belly growing and feeling the baby move and it was Taylor's turn to see how he can "play with the baby". He started rubbing the baby's back and the baby flipped over so his spine was completely up towards his hand and then he stretched out and the snuggled up like he was going to sleep, it was precious!

This was when Taylor was rubbing his back.

 

When the scan was over and we were waiting for our DVD to be finished we got to shop in the connected boutique. My grandma is a die hard KSU fan and got baby a little KSU baseball hat. My sister got the baby this awesome aviator hat with goggles on it.

The "heartbeat" puppy and hat

 

 

 me and momma

 

me and Erika and my mother in law

 

 

Afterward we came home and carved our pumpkin that says "Boy" and took pictures so we could announce it on facebook and to friends.

 

 

 and then there are these two jokers.  and can we talk about how my sister can literally wear whatever she wants and still look fashionable?

 

We are excited for the little man!

 

Then my family came over and we made breakfast, we had pancakes, scrambled eggs with cheese, fresh fruit and bacon. YUM!

 

 

My parents also gave us a little treat (they had a boy treat and a girl treat). It was this precious sleeper.

 

Then we went shopping, I took my girl onesies back to carter's and we got lots of great outfits on sale and we also went to Nordstrom Rack and got some great sleepers for him. He is spoiled already.

 

I honestly CAN NOT believe that I am having a boy, a son! Holy cow, it's just so weird to say it. I am a little nervous honestly, I don't have much experience with a boy but I am so very glad that my kids will have a big brother. I always wanted one!



17 weeks- PICTURE POST

This week is our 2 year wedding anniversary! October 15th, it's so hard to believe 2 years ago we were getting ready for and celebrating one of the best day's of our lives. ( Second best has to be finding out this baby was ok at our sono last week.) Taylor is such an amazing husband and father already. He let me sleep in Sunday and went to Starbucks and got me a fresh caramel apple cider (you know because of my addiction for apples lately) and some Halloween sprinkle donuts and brought them to me in bed. What a great guy. He never runs out of nice things to say and romantic or kind things to do. I am so blessed to have such a strong supportive man in my life who will be an incredible example to our kids. I love you so much babe, I could have never gotten through these last two years without you and I am so glad our struggles have only made us stronger. You're the best!!

Here is a little photo montage of some of my favorite pics from our wedding to celebrate this week.

Sorry this one is blurry^^

For our anniversary we had a fantastic day! It was GORGEOUS outside just like our wedding day. We went to Nebraska furniture mart and found a crib we like for a boy and one we like for a girl. I am sooo excited to buy them, well to order them not necessarily pay for them lol. Then we thought it would be fun to go spend $10 at the penny slots at the new casino just because we have never done that. Turns out at the Hollywood when you "open" a user card they add $5 to it for you, we played for about 30 minutes and won and lost but then the smoke got to me and I got really nauseated so we just played out money out vs. cashing out $1.50 or whatever we were at at the time and left. We also went to Carter's and got a few precious outfits that were on sale. I will just return the onesie set for whichever gender we don't have.

I'm obsessed with this bear outfit, it's so incredibly soft and it's staying boy or girl.

 

 After the legends we went back toward home, got a snack and picked up a few pumpkins, one for each of us to carve and one for the baby :)

 We carved them while drinking caramel apple cider and watching hocus pocus and then I roasted the seeds.

Love this goofy man!

MMMMMmmm seeds!

 My pumpkin, I went tried and true this year.

The pumpkin is hiding the bump which was in full force that day and really funny to see in a freakin casino.

 

After that we got all dolled up and went out to eat at J. Alexander's and had an amazing steak dinner. Of course baby made me nauseous through that but I didn't get sick and I actually enjoyed my meal toward the end. All in all it was a perfect day.

Momma with her new shoes, new amazing fall rug and the bump!

 

 

This week I also felt the baby move for the first time!! EEK!! I was napping in between my wed and thur night shifts and I woke up at 1pm to go to the bathroom (a daily occurance as of now) and when I laid back down and was getting ready to try to fall back to sleep for a few more hours I just casually rested my hand on my tummy and "POP". It felt like a piece of popcorn popping or a little flick from the inside or kinda like a really tiny muscle twitch, but I have zero doubt in my mind that's what I felt. So I laid there a little while longer and felt it again in the same spot and then couldn't feel it anymore but it was a little "hey momma! I'm in here!" and of course I cried a little happy tears, it was amazing to realize that this little nugget is really inside me, THAT I AM GROWING A HUMAN! CRAZY!!!!

And tomorrow we hopefully find out if the baby is a boy or a girl and I can  NOT wait. I just want baby to cooperate for a few minutes so that we can see the goods and then baby can go back to being ornery.

 

Chalkboard time

 

How far along? 17 weeks, baby is the size of an Orange.
Total weight gain: Gained back 2 pounds this week. Total of 16 pounds lost.

Maternity clothes? I have two weddings coming up and I had the HARDEST time finding a maternity (or bump accommodating dress) to wear that was fall appropriate. But, finally success! It's not even maternity lol.

Sleep: I have been wide awake at night sometimes and wanna sleep during the day. Night shift is messing with me I think.

Best moment this week: Finding out baby is healthy and doing well and feeling the baby move!

Miss Anything? being able to sleep without having to get up to pee.

Movement: YES!!! and now I am the laziest person on the planet because I just lay around trying to feel it.
Food cravings: Still apples with caramel dip or just by themselves, I can't get enough lately. Guacamole and avacados, hot glazed donuts with an ice cold glass of milk. (these are from last week but still apply....mmmmmmmmmm) pumpkin seeds and comfort food like mac and cheese.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I made jumbalaya the other night and it made me sick after eating it. Not sure if it was the spice overload or the greasy sausage but either way, baby was NOT happy.

Gender: We will HOPEFULLY find out October 19th. YAY!! (if baby cooperates)

Symptoms: weird dreams, belly growing, stuffy nose, foggy brain, round ligament pain....that shit hurts!! YOUCH! It feels like a rubber band snapping you out of nowhere.

Belly Button in or out? in
Wedding rings on or off? on....and loose.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Still crying at the drop of a hat, TV commercials, news stories, nice things people say, a baby delivery the other day (as If I haven't seen hundreds before) but SOOOOO HAPPY our baby is healthy and ok.

Looking forward to: finding out if this nugget is a boy or girl and SHOPPING! I have found sooo many cute things that I have to have but can't get until I know for sure.