19 Weeks of the Incredibly Non-Shrinking Woman! :)

Well, that's right people I am the incredible non-shrinking woman or in other words the incredible ever growing woman!  My belly popped at 4 weeks into this pregnancy and hasn't looked back.  By week 16 I noticed it grew more than normal.  On my Baby Center pregnancy app it said that at 16 weeks the baby is going through a growth spurt and the next few weeks doubles in weight and add inches in length.  Well, I can definitely confirm this!

The baby is supposedly the size of an heirloom tomato.  To me it looks like I swallowed a cantaloupe or something.  I am only half way through my pregnancy and I am two lbs away from my end weight with Miss O and my stomach is not that far away either.  Everyone says that your second pregnancy things develop a lot more and faster.  I have also been told by friends that they gained twice as much weight with their boys than their girls.  Looks like I am on track then, ha!
It amazes me how many times I compare my stomach to other pregnant women.  Who by the way seem to be everywhere!  When your pregnant you seem to notice everyone else that is prego, like you all are in some kind of unspoken club.  In my bar gym class there was two girls behind me that were both due in May.  One had a stomach the same size as mine and it boggled my mind that she is two months farther along.  But, both are first time Moms, so it is not an exact comparison.  My husband said that at the end of my pregnancy I am going to look like the girl from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory that turns into a blueberry.  Gosh he seems to always know just the right things to say to lift my spirits and confidence.  He tries to keep it real and prevent me from ever getting a big head.  Mission accomplished. ;)  I love ya Cha.
Next week is the 20 week ultrasound, which is 45 min long and looks at all the major organs, as well as measurements.  I won't be surprised if they find another baby hiding behind our boy, O would love that, Cha and I not so much.

Here is my version of a mu-mu, which this generation now calls maxi dresses.  Maxis are so comfy and are good prego or not.  I have started to try on and wear warmer weather clothes and colors.  I did this last year around this time to evoke spring and summer.  It seemed to work, so why not give it another try, plus I am tired of jeans and sweaters.  Looking forward to wearing all my new summer pregnancy clothes.  O was born in Dec, so the bulk of my prego clothes are for the winter.  Something to look forward to, so come on warmer weather!

We are having a .......

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                                      BOY!!!!!

I have a set of coffee mugs from Anthropologie (one of my fav stores) with letters of all our initials that I just love.  I bought a mug a month ago with the letter L because I was almost positive I was having another girl and if so we would name her Lily.
At 17 weeks along I just found out the gender over the phone after taking the Harmony blood test 11 days ago.  The test mainly looks at the babies chromosomes for any abnormalities like down syndrome.  Thankfully the baby shows no signs of any chromosomal abnormalities.
I must admit it was a bit weird finding out we were having a boy over the phone from a complete stranger with no one around, but O.  Charlie was still at work and I didn't want to tell him until he got home.  I was jumping out of my skin waiting for him to get home!
Last night Cha was drinking his tea from this L mug and says to me,"what if it is a boy and we have this L cup for Lily?"  My response was it really doesn't matter, it is just a mug, plus we could always find a boy's name that starts with L.  Coincidentally, a while ago I did come across the name Liam and really like it.  So as a way of breaking the news to Cha I wrote the rest of the name on the mug and wrapped it up.
Only problem was that Miss O knew the news and was having a hard time keeping it in.  I sat her down to explain how I wanted to surprise Daddy by opening the wrapped mug with the boys name on it and she said, "ok mommy I won't spill the beans, promise."  But right as Cha opened the garage door she ran out and yelled "It's a boy" just as he got out of the car.  She is excited beyond words!
She really wanted a sister, but seems totally ok with a brother.  I think she just wants to be a big sister more than anything.
But I am shocked!  Everything was pointing to a girl.  The night before I found out we were pregnant I had a dream I was having another girl, O has been adamant it is a girl, and I kept seeing the name Lily everywhere.  I asked the genetic counselor who gave the news, "are you sure" and she was like "umm, yes the blood test is 99%," which I knew, but I was just so flabbergasted.  When I got off the phone a magnitude of emotions came over me and I began to ball.  I was sad that I was not going to have another girl, O was not going to have a sister she wanted,  I was not going to have a Lily.  Plus all the cute girl clothes that I hoped to reuse.
But then I began to cry even harder out of happiness that we were going to experience a boy, O was going to have a brother, and the Bush family name was going to live on.  I am 95% sure this is going to be our last kid, although if you ask Cha it is more like 100% sure, so I am happy that we have one of each.  Our family is complete!  Plus the last thought I had before I feel asleep last night was, if we have another girl I am definitely going to be the third wheel, competing for my husbands love and attention.  With O alone it is hard to get much attention, if we had another I might as well as sleep with the dogs, ha!
As far as names go, boys names have always been hard for us.  I have always liked the name Gavin and we used to like the name Noah.  But lately I seem to lean towards Liam or William.  Miss O picked the name Jack once we found out we were prego and asked her for a boy name, which both Cha and I don't mind either.  It will be hard deciding and I welcome your opinions of these names or any other ideas.  The middle name will most likely be Charles, just like his Daddy. :)

Happy V-Day!

Wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day!  Above is some art I did with O this past month.  All of it is made from using her hands, feet and fingerprints.  I have them hanging in our living room and love looking at them.  For Christmas we made a Christmas tree using her hands as the branches of the tree.  For every holiday I plan to do art with her to hang on our walls, as a form of holiday decor.  Hopefully one day when we settle down and buy a house I would like to display all of our art together on one wall.  Soon enough there will be an extra kids art work to hang as well, can't wait!
One of O's and mine gift to Charlie is a hand made picture frame of us in NYC.  It is made of painted puzzle pieces, popsicle sticks for the frame, cardboard, and a lot of hot glue.  Most of it was created at the local library were we do arts and craft along with book time.  I hope he likes it and adorns his office desk with it.

My next project, which is a lot more entailed is finding an antique dresser to go in the babies nursery.  I plan to up cycle it by painting it grey and white, and installing new hardware.  The nursery colors are primarily going to be grey and white.  If it is a girl I will use purples and if it is a boy I will probably use red, yellow, and black.  We will probably only be living here for another year in a half, but Cha will have to paint the nursery walls a grey color because I cannot stand the poo brown it currently is.  A year in a half is too long for me to look at that wall color, although it might be good for diaper accidents. ;)
Well I am at the end of my 15th week and about to enter my 16th.  Today I finally worked out, for the most part getting my Harmony blood test.  It is a very confusing and aggravating process of trying to get an authorization for the test through our medical insurance Tricare.  I will not bore you with the details, but lets just say it is has been a royal pain in my butt.  But today I got my blood drawn and about 10 days from today we should know the results of the babies chromosomes and gender.  So exciting!

So long first trimester and hello second trimester!

I cannot believe I am already in my second trimester, 14 weeks along to be exact.  So happy to be out of the first trimester!  Any women who has been pregnant knows what I am talking about.  You want to enjoy your pregnancy, but in the back of your mind you don't let yourself fully celebrate in case something might go wrong in the fragile first trimester.  Now I can for the most part relax and just enjoy.
From this pic I think it is safe to say my tummy no longer looks like I over ate over the holidays, but a true baby belly.  One of my fav parts of pregnancy is that I have increased a bra size, from a B to a C.  My pregnancy with O I think I got to a D, which is very large for my body type.  Just wish this was one symptom of pregnancy that would not go away! :))
So far I feel great!  My late night yuck feeling has subsided, my boobs don't hurt anymore even though they are 5 lbs. heavier, and not many food cravings.  Sometimes I forget I am prego, especially since I am kept busy by an energizer bunny of a daughter.  But then I look in the mirror or put on pants and I am like, "Oh yeah".
Our high energy daughter attended her first preschool class at St. Joseph in Hammonton today.  She is doing two half days a week for four hours each day.  My parents had been visiting from California for the past two weeks and felt that she was bored and needed to be challenged.  They are helping with some of the cost since private preschool doesn't come cheap.  We will be doing this up until the middle of June and then resume preschool at the public school in the fall.
She has been asking to go to school since she was 2 and absolutely loved it.  She wishes she could go for the whole day.  Cannot believe how fast our baby girl has grown up, but it was time to give her a new outlet since I pretty much ran out of things to teach her and the cabin fever due to the extreme snowy weather of NJ is making her a bit batty.  O is also a social butterfly and needs to be around people at all times, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. :)

12 Week Ultrasound!

 This past week I am 12 weeks along and had my first ultrasound by my high risk OB.  Due to the fact I am 35 and will be 36 upon due date, as well as being on medications I am considered high risk.  One benefit of being high risk, if there is any is that I get more ultrasounds and even one as early as 12 weeks.  It was amazing how much our little munchkin has grown over four weeks, from a little collection of cells to a distinguishable baby.
Charlie and I were amazed at the little fingers and at one point saw a thumbs up, how cool!  The baby decided to flip face down during the entire ultrasound giving the technician difficulty in doing measurements, especially the neck which is taken to determine if there is an indication of Down Syndrome.  The technician tried to push and tap the baby with the ultrasound wand to make it flip on its back, but already this little one is as stubborn as his or her sister and wouldn't budge.  But, measurements were taken and everything looks great!  The babies size is right on track and everything looks perfectly normal.

This pic is the profile of the babies back, the spine is the two lines going down the middle.  So happy to see our little one, since I was not high risk with O we never got to see her this itty bitty.  It is simply a miracle such a small little being is thriving inside of me.  I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be this little ones Mommy and the love I feel for him or her.
At the high risk OB appointment we also saw a genetic counselor who tried to sell us on a plethora of different testings like Chromosomal Deformities, Aminio, CVS, MMS, Fragile X Syndrome, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  We felt like we talking to a cars salesmen trying to sell us on all these testing methods to see if our baby has anything wrong.  The only test we are allowing is the Harmony, which is a blood test that looks at the babies chromosomes, which are floating in my blood.  It blows my mind that the babies DNA is in my blood!  The Harmony tests three different chromosomal deformities, such as Down Syndrome, Edwards Syndrome, Patau Syndrome, as well as the X Y chromosomes.  This means that in about ten days we should know with 99% accuracy if we are having a boy or girl!  Technological advances and what they are able to find out just through my blood boggles my mind!  Honestly I am not worried about any chromosomal deformities, and if there was any I would never abort a baby, but if there is an issue it would be good to know so we could prepare.  Becoming a parent is an exciting, but at the same time scary adventure.

Trying to stay stylish in my 10th week!

Trying my very best to not wear sweats and PJ's all day long.  Don't get me wrong there is days were that is all I wear, especially when it is below 20 degrees outside and I am going no where.  The biggest downfall of pregnancy I believe is not feeling cute and putting an outfit together is no longer fun and more like a chore.  Rummaging through my closet hoping something fits and feeling like I am playing that scene out of the movie Tommy Boy over and over again, were Chris Farley puts on a small jacket and sings, "fat guy in a little coat".  It is a funny thought, but no so funny when it is my reality and very little fits in my closet.  A lot of my sweaters are starting to look like tube tops.
With my ever changing body and bloat issues it would be easy to give up and say pass the spandex, but I feel it is important for my psyche to be able to look in the mirror and still like what I see.
Being a dancer my whole life I learned the way you dress truly shapes who you are.  Clothes effect  your energy level, attitude, personality, and confidence.  I remember my ballet teacher Elizabeth Huebner, a principle ballerina from Joffrey Ballet telling us pupils you need to dress the part of a ballerina in class as you would on stage and by doing so will dance the part, as well as to your full potential.  This reminds me of Shakespeare's famous quote, "All the World's a stage and all men and women merely players".  I don't know about you but I would rather put on a pretty dress and play the part of an up beat positive girl than a sad girl in sweats.  The lazy down beat girl is only played at home where loved ones hopefully won't judge and love her unconditionally. ;)

Lately due to hormones, weight gain, and overall body changes I have been feeling pretty low.  My outlook on my looks has been less than positive, but these are feeling all women fight whether it is getting older or going through a whole body transformation like pregnancy.  Thank goodness these days there is so many adorable, fashion forward maternity clothes to lift our spirits.  I found a British company online called Asos, which has tons of very fashionable and reasonably priced maternity clothes, even swim wear.  Maternity clothes have come a long way even in the past four years since I had Olivia.  I cannot wait to get my new prego clothes in the mail, something to lift my spirits and make me able to look in the mirror and feel happy and cute again.  When I am happy and feel good about myself I play the part of a better Mom & Wife, two roles I cannot afford to bomb and must play to my up most potential!

Ringing in the New Year!

This week is a New Year and my 9th week of pregnancy.  Hello 2014 and good bye 2013!  I decided to ring the New Year watching the ball drop in NY while drinking a whole bottle of premium grade sparkling cider with my hubby.  Who said pregnant women can't have a little fun, ha!
Well, no belly pics this week because I don't think there is much of a change.  Actually in the mourning it feels smaller and then by bedtime it grows a little.  I think I am dealing with a whole lot of bloat.

Food cravings have also subsided.  The first couple weeks I had the same food cravings as I did with O, which consisted of spicy Mexican food, vinegar dressings, and pretty much any kind of food that was acidic like tomato soup.  All I seemed to crave right now is fruit.  I cannot eat anything fried, french fries smell good, but taste terrible and make me feel even more terrible.  It is amazing how much food effects you when you are pregnant and how your body immediately lets you know this is not good for you.  This makes me view food in a completely different way.

All other symptoms like sore boobs, a little nausea at night, and gassy still persist.  The gas is probably the worst part and my poor family has to deal with my crop dusting.  I really cannot wait for that side effect to go and hope it doesn't last my entire pregnancy.

Other than that I am doing pretty good, my energy level has been normal and enough to keep up with a crazy four year old.  There is a theory that if one pregnancy is different from another that you are you are having a baby of different gender.  So far there has been some similarities between both pregnancies, but a whole lot of differences.  We will just have to wait and see if this theory holds true!