For the Love

I'm in the last week of my second trimester!  I can't believe how time is flying right now.  I have no doubt that time will only speed up even more, especially with Christmas coming up and so many activities happening in December.       

I really thought I would have a bigger baby bump by this point, and I have to confess that the size/shape of my belly has depressed me.  I don't have that nice, rounded bump that I see on so many other pregnant women; to me I just look fat.  And just the week before, some people at work were telling me I still don't even look pregnant to them, which made me so sad.  It's really depressed me, and then I feel stupid for feeling depressed because I know what a blessing it is to even BE pregnant, and I am obsessing over something so small and inconsequential.  Still, part of me worries that I haven't gotten bigger because Charlotte isn't growing like she needs to be or something like that.  I'm hoping all of this is just in my head.  I will feel better once I go to the doctor and can hear her heartbeat again and know everything is okay. 

Speaking of the doctor, on Wednesday I go back for a checkup and the dreaded gestational diabetes test.  I just have this fear that I am going to find out that I have gestational diabetes, but I am trying not to worry about it since I can't know for sure until I am tested. 

And now for an update on little Charlotte:

How far along? 27 weeks!

Baby's size?  About 2 pounds and roughly 14.5 inches long!

Weight Gain?  Bleck, next question.

Maternity clothes?  All maternity pants, but I am still wearing a blend of maternity and non-maternity tops.

Stretch marks?  No new ones.

Belly button in or out? Still in.

Sleep?  I really love sleep; I just wish I could get more of it!

Foods I am loving?  I have an apple every day, and lately I've also really loved hot chocolate.

Foods I am hating? Nothing new.

Best moment this week?  Spending Thanksgiving weekend with my family and going shopping on Black Friday (we did NOT go at a crazy early hour, however).

Movement?  Yes indeed. 

Symptoms?  The usual suspects.

Gender?  A little princess. :)

What I miss?  Sleeping on my stomach.

What I'm looking forward to?  Getting the gestational diabetes test over with!

Emotions: Worried about gestational diabetes test, anxious to meet Charlotte and hold her in my arms.

I didn't realize it until this morning, but I now have less than 100 days of pregnancy left (unless little Charlotte comes late–eek).  Only 97 days to go.  I can't believe that; I am sure those days are going to FLY by, and we still have a lot to do!  I finally picked the bedding we're going to use, and I've somewhat started a baby registry at Target.  I really need to get on that and finish it up and register somewhere else, too, right?  I guess Toys R Us?  We still need to find a dresser and changing table, too. 

Here's a little update on Baby Mount:

How far along? 26 weeks! 

Baby's size?  About two pounds!  Crazy!

Weight Gain?  I haven't weighed this week, so I don't know, but I know I've crossed the 20-pound mark.

Maternity clothes?  All maternity pants, but I am still wearing a blend of maternity and non-maternity tops.

Stretch marks?  Only ones I already had. :/

Belly button in or out? Still in.

Sleep?  I really love sleep; I just wish I could get more of it!

Foods I am loving?  I have an apple every day, and lately I've also really loved hot chocolate.

Foods I am hating? Nothing new.

Best moment this week?  Feeling Charlotte move.  This morning she seemed especially active, and it's just the best feeling.

Movement?  See previous question.  I noticed she moved a lot during church once again.  Perhaps she's going to be a music lover. :)

Symptoms?  Still nasal congestion and headaches, and I wear my glasses a lot more because my eyes are drier.

Gender?  A little princess. :)

What I miss?  Sleeping on my stomach.

What I'm looking forward to?  Thanksgiving with my family! 

Emotions: Up, down, all around.  Hehe.


I hope all of you have a fantastic week!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only TWO WEEKS away?  I can’t.  And with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m already thinking about Christmas.  It’s hard not to, since the Christmas decorations came out in stores on November 1. :) 

Of course, with Christmas come Christmas cards.  I love receiving Christmas cards, especially photo cards or personalized cards because it helps me see how my family and friends have changed or grown over the past year.  However, I am not so great about sending out Christmas cards.  Last year I thought about writing one of those update letters (and even partially composed one), but then I never finished it because I figured that most of the people who would receive it already knew everything in it.  I ended up not sending ANY cards last year, which is kind of sad.

This year, however, I’m determined to do things differently, which is why I was really excited to see that Shutterfly is having a 50 free holiday card promotion for bloggers!  How cool is that?!  Shutterfly has some really great products, and I am already excited about the possible design we could have for our photo card.  Here are some that I like:

Oh What Fun Christmas Card



Elegant Lace Snowflakes



Pretty Poinsettia Print




So prety, right?!  I also have my eye on the baby announcements, since obviously we’ll be using those next year as well, and they have some ADORABLE ones:

Triple Play Peppermint





Baby Love (how appropriate for my blog, hehe)


Pattern Play



I get excited just looking at these cards!  What are some of your favorites?

If you're a blogger interested in the promotion, go here for more details!

Last week I promised to post on the progress of my goals for the month, so here is week one's report:

1.  Track my food every day and try to stay between 1800-2000 calories.  I tracked 5 out of 7 days and stayed in range only 3 of those days.  Honestly, I am more concerned with the act of tracking and being aware of what I am eating more than I am concerned with the calorie range at this point.

2.  No more Coke!  Check.  I did have a Diet Coke one day, but that is it.  (We won't talk about how I've already blown this goal for this week...)

3.  Exercise for a minimum of 120 minutes a week.  Check!  I logged exactly 120 minutes. 

4.  No eating after 8 p.m.  I did this for 5 out of 7 days.  I have decided that if I am hungry after 8, I’m going to allow myself to eat, but it needs to be something light and not junk food. :) 

All in all, I did a decent job, but there is certainly room for improvement.  We'll see how this week goes! 

I can't believe I am already 6 months pregnant.  Here's this week's pregnancy update:


How far along? 24 weeks!

Baby's size?  A little over a pound and the size of an ear of corn.

Weight Gain?  I forgot to weigh this morning, but I was 188 on Saturday, which makes 18 pounds gained.

Maternity clothes?  All maternity pants, but I am still wearing a blend of maternity and non-maternity tops. 

Stretch marks? Not yet!

Belly button in or out? Still in.

Sleep?  It really depends on the night.  Sometimes I sleep great and am super comfortable, and other nights (like last night), I am tossing and turning and waking up a lot.

Foods I am loving?  Sweets!  It was all I could do not to buy every item of junk food we saw at the grocery store yesterday!

Foods I am hating? Nothing new.

Best moment this week?  Seeing friends from college this weekend.

Movement?  I was beginning to worry about this because I didn’t feel like I was feeling Charlotte move much at all, but then yesterday at church she was having a party.  I guess that means she will enjoy going to church. :) 

Symptoms?  I am congested all the time, and I’ve been getting headaches as well. 

Gender?  A little princess. :)

What I miss?  Sleeping on my stomach.

What I'm looking forward to?  Getting everything in her nursery all organized. 

Emotions: All over the place (just ask Stephen, haha).

This week I am determined to pick the bedding we are going to use in Charlotte's room, and then we'll have to decide if we want to paint or just use decals.  Of course I will post pics of the finished product. :) 

I hope all of you have a fantastic week!

I'm here to 'fess up to you, my readers.  My weight gain was nuts in October.  I have my next checkup at the OB tomorrow, and I wouldn't be surprised if I the scale shows an 8 pound gain from my last visit a mere FOUR WEEKS ago!  I was relieved on Monday to see that I didn't gain any weight this past week, but still, tomorrow could be an entirely different story.  As of Monday, the scale said 188, which makes for a total weight gain of 18 pounds.  I think I gained about 5 of those pounds in the span of 3 weeks, which is crazy.  I have been extremely hungry a lot of the time, but I have used that as an excuse to fill up on empty calories like sweets and even Coke.  I hardly ever had regular Coke when I was trying to lose weight, so I don't know why all of a sudden I told myself it was okay to have them, but there was a stretch of about two weeks where I was craving (and drinking) them almost every day!  (And before someone leaves me a comment about the caffeine being bad for me, one can of coke has about 30-something mg of caffeine, which is far below the 200-300 mg most practitioners believe is safe for pregnancy.)  Last week I realized that I was going to head into dangerous waters if I didn't stop myself, so I'm trying to regain control of my eating habits and focus more on living healthy so my baby has a healthy environment in which to grow and develop.   I'm not going to get all crazy and try to lose weight or anything like that; I just need to stop being a mindless zombie when it comes to eating!

With that in mind, I decided to set some goals for November.  I used to set goals every month, but I haven't done that in a while, and I think the focus would really help me.  Here are my goals for November:

1.  Track my food every day and try to stay between 1800-2000 calories.  Right now, the tracking is really important for me because I snack a lot, and if I am not aware of how much I am eating, I can easily go overboard.

2.  No more Coke!

3.  Exercise for a minimum of 120 minutes a week.  I can split this up however I choose, and if I do more than that, great!  I've done a fairly decent job of exercising at least 3 days a week most weeks, so I hope to continue that and maybe even exceed 120 minutes every week.  I've already logged 80 minutes for this week, so I'm feeling good!

4.  No eating after 8 p.m.  There's no need to eat after this time, since I go to bed between 9:30-10:30, and usually when I feel the urge to eat after 8, I want to eat junk, so I'm going to enforce this curfew, which has helped me before.

Hopefully these goals will allow me to be disciplined without being obsessive.  I'll report each week on how I did for the previous week.

Do you have any goals for this month?