The Ever Expanding Belly- Week 13/14

Well, here they are, my belly pics! It doesn't seem like much of a difference from the last pics, but I can confirm that my belly is definitely growing little by little. Pretty much I can measure the growth by how far I can zip my pants up.

The amazing thing is that my belly varies in size throughout the day. In the mourning I barely can make anything out, but as the day goes by it seems to miraculously grow and by bed time it is huge. My pilates teacher told me that when she was pregnant her belly would grow throughout the day too. So weird! She also had an aversion to vegetables like broccoli, just like myself. I wonder why that is?
This past weekend I purchased my first pair of prego jeans at a maternity store in the mall. I love to shop, but shopping in a maternity store is no fun. Not because everything is huge, but because nothing looks good on and most of it is butt ugly. I am definitely going to have to do my research on cute maternity boutiques in Seattle, otherwise I am going to be wearing dresses my whole pregnancy.

Other news is that we are probably going to move. Not from Sequim, but from our current residency. We've been having complaints by neighbors about our dogs going the bathroom on the grass. Our duplex does not have grass, so I have to take them for walks around the neighborhood. Of course I pick up any droppings, but this neighborhood is full of old people who have nothing better to do, but complain about everything. I swear I live in the movie Cacoon.

However, this is not the only reason why we want to move, we also have noticed after cleaning out our third room that there is not much room to grow. Our garage is stuffed to the rim. I mean literally, we had to hang shelves from the ceiling. Plus it would be nice to have a house with an enclosed backyard for the dogs.

We found a craftsman style house down the street from us for rent this past weekend and it is too cute. It has an enclosed back yard and lots of room to grow. We put in our application tomorrow and hopefully we will get it. Yeah, can't wait to move! Well sort of...

Over the hurdle of the First Trimester!

Today was my 12 week appointment, a milestone in the pregnancy since the first 12 weeks are the most fragile time in the babies development. I saw a new doctor this time, Doctor Burkhardt, one of three doctor's that I will be seeing throughout my pregnancy. He was an older man, but very nice.

The appointment was a normal OB exam with doppler to hear the heart. I made Cha come along since he didn't hear the heart beat the first time. Plus if anything went wrong I would need his support.

Of course the appointment started off by stepping on the scale, which I was not looking forward to, but who ever does. To my surprise and Cha's I lost a pound. Don't ask me how that happened! I have been eating like a pig lately and not going to the gym as religously as I normally do. I am usually a pretty healthy eater, but not lately. My sweet tooth and craving for carbs has been ridiculous. It is so bad that I can't even go down the candy aisle at the grocery store. The doctor said that there was nothing to worry about and that he wouldn't be surprised if I even lost more than that since my body has significantly increased in blood flow and boob tissue. Plus most women don't tend to gain weight until the second and third trimester. He has never had a patient were the problem is not enough weight gain, usually it is the other way around.

Once he began the exam and then the doppler, that's when I became extremely nervous. I mean if anything bad was going to happen it would of happened by now. It took him a few minutes to find the heart beat and the whole time I was praying to God, please let everything be ok. The doctor even said, "she is a shy little thing, isn't she". Cha and I just looked at each other like does he know something we don't! Is there something on my file that says she wants a girl? But finally he found it and I think Cha almost fainted from suspense. The doc calculated the heart beat at 156 bpm and he said, "it sounded like a strong little heart beat and it's also in the girl range". Each time I hear that rapid little heart I am amazed. I think the next appointment I will record it because I could just listen to it all day long.

After we left the doctor Cha confessed to me that his heart was in his throat the whole time when the doctor was trying to find the heart beat. But now both of us can relax and feel comforted that we have made it through the scary first trimester. Although even though I know this I still can't wait for the next appointment. I probably won't feel totally relaxed until I deliver the baby and hear her/him cry, along with the doctors confirmation that everything is ok. Oh, the joys of motherhood!

The Beauty of Sequim by Bike.

For the past week it has been sunny and 80 degrees along the Pacific Northwest. Cha and I decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather by taking a day long bike ride. First stop was lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Sequim, Cedar Creek. Cha got a delicious pizza, while I had a crab, asparagus, and artichoke bisque soup with a yummy salad. It fueled us up for the long bike ride to come.
Cha giving his sexy pose in front of the restaurant. This is the only pic I have of him the whole day because he was mostly in control of the camera.
One more pose before we start our journey. Wearing my Da-Nang shorts and coconut sun tan lotion reminded me of my trip last summer to Hawaii to visit my BFF Abby. Miss ya Abbs!

All too soon there will be a kiddie seat on back of my bike.
We traveled along the Olympic Discovery trail, which runs close to the water from the Indian Casino all the way to Port Angeles. Last summer we biked to Port Angeles along the trail, but that took about 3 hours one way. I didn't want to over extend myself so we traveled the shorter portion north to John Wayne Marina.
All along the trail and all throughout Sequim is millions of wild daisies and CA poppies. Poppies are one of my favorite wildflowers.
So of course I had to pick one and wear it in my hair. Amazingly it stayed the whole bike ride.
This is the Johnson Creek Trestle, which we rode across. We stopped for awhile and walked along the trestle looking down at the creek below. The trestle is so high that you feel like you are walking along the tree tops. The Olympic Peninsula is full of these little gems that you don't even know exist until you stumble upon them. So beautiful!
The tranquil creek below.

Hope your are not afraid of heights! Excellent for bungee jumping.

What a great day!

This is Charlie's favorite wildflowers that he would yell and point at as we rode by. Finally he was overcome by their beauty and had to get off his bike and snap some shots. Sorry that I don't know their name.
Just above the marina. In the distance you can see Mt. Baker, if you squint through the trees you can see a white lump.

Yeah, we made it too the Marina!

All done! Although now we have to do it all over again, in reverse and up hill. But at least there is no snow! :)

Belly Pics- Eleven Weeks

Well here ya all go! Another set of belly pics, although nothing significant has changed since week nine, but I thought I should post some anyway. I guess my belly won't really start to grow much more until the baby starts to get substantially bigger. The little bump is pretty much the fact that my bladder has grown to the size of a grapefruit and extra water retention. I feel extremely bloated in my belly and Charlie likes to push on it with his hand and say "squishy" :). Thanks! He knows how to make a girl feel good about herself, but I love him anyway.

No, he really has been sweet, sending love everyday to my belly as he sits watching TV with one hand on the remote and the other on my stomach. So cute!

Even though there doesn't look like much growth my pants have gotten uncomfortably tight around the waist. With some pants I have begun to wear my bella band, which holds the pants up while they are unbuttoned. I have begun to look for clothes that are loose fitting, like these cute jersey knit dresses on J-Crew. I have one already and just love wearing it because it is so loose and stretchy. I think that it is so cool that you don't have to go to a maternity store to buy clothes these days, although I am sure that will change when I become the size of a whale :).

My Brother is Engaged!!

This past year has been pretty eventful! Not only am I going to be a Mother, but a sister-in-law too, as my brother proposed to Erica in Mexico this past weekend. On top of that my sister-in-law Carolynn is going to be a Mother any day now and her sister-in-law Catherine is having her first baby as we speak. Too much excitement in such a short period of time!
My brother and Erica have been seeing each other off and on for about three years now. My mom, sister and I have been bugging him for awhile of when he is going to pop the question. Finally he came to his senses and decided that he should propose and what better time to do it than when they are on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. The funny thing is that the last time we were in Cancun was as a family at Club Med Resort when I was in high school. I can remember my brother making a comment one night about how romantic it was there and what a great place to bring a loved one. Well you got your wish!
For months now my brother and Erica have been planning a week long trip to Cancun. Charlie and I were going to join them, but at the time people in Mexico were being killed in drug wars, so Charlie felt it wasn't safe to go. Which ended up being a good decision since I later became pregnant and the swine flu epidemic began. I have been teasing Erica and Chris that they should watch out for pigs and drug lords while they are down there.
But in a way I am kind of sad I didn't go because I could of been there for their engagement. I haven't found out the particulars of how Chris proposed, but I am sure it was really romantic. The ring he bought her is absolutely beautiful and he was able to get it the week before they left. Just in the nick of time!
Well I just want to Congratulate them and let them know how happy Charlie and I are for them. Now get to making some kids! :)

My May Garden

Welcome to my spring garden and varieties of plants that I have never grown before....
This past Memorial weekend has been the sunniest and warmest since 2005. I thought I would take the opportunity to soak up as much sun and vitamin D as I could by working on my garden. Surprisingly most of my plants survived the dreadful snowy winter. I was shocked that only three bit the dust after 13 inches of snow and extreme freezing temperatures from October to March.
Everything is so green and blooming that I couldn't help but capture all the beauty yesterday. These delicate pink flowers, otherwise known as bleeding hearts are my absolute favorite flower. All four years living in Mobile, AL I tried to grow these precious flowers and failed miserably. The only things that do well in the South are plants that can survive extreme heat and humidity, mostly tropicals. But here on the Pacific North West, bleeding hearts are native and can be found growing naturally along hiking trails. So once we moved here this plant was one of my first purchases and they have been growing like weeds. I also love tulips and other bulbs, which also do extremely well here. Unfortunately my daffodils are done flowering so I didn't include them.
Only nature can make something so perfect. For some reason bleeding hearts remind me of a bunch of ballerinas dancing around each other.
My roses have also been doing wonderfully. If anyone ever saw my rose garden in Mobile, it was pretty sad as they fried to death in the scorching sun. Gardening is so easy here that I pretty much plant them in dirt and they just do their thing, so effortless.
I am excited to watch my garden continue to grow as does my belly :). Although I didn't post a belly pic this week because I didn't feel like there was much of a difference since last week. But I will definitely post one this week.

What me patient? Haa...

I have to be the most impatient person on the planet! I am the extreme opposite of those people who don't want to know what they are having. But, I guess I am not alone since they wouldn't make such a product if I was the only one.

This past week I was feeling impatient about having to wait till week 20 to find out the sex, so one of my old co-workers sent me ways to find out sooner. I guess one of her friends did this IntelliGender test and it ended up being correct when the baby was born.

Yesterday I was in Walgreen's picking up some items and came across the test. I wanted to wait till my next doc appointment to do the test since I will be at the end of my first trimester and less chance of miscarriage, but I couldn't even wait till then.

The test is pretty much like a pregnancy test, using urine to decipher the sex. Don't ask me how it works, it has something to do with the different hormone levels or something in your urine. The package says it is 95% positive, but it is already starting off at 50%. It also says that real life results are more like 87% accurate. So who knows if it is really accurate, but it will be interesting to see if it ends up being true. Think of me as human guinea pig.

Well I thought it would be fun to do this and find out the result. Even though it resulted in a girl, I don't really feel that excited. I kind of feel like I got away with something I shouldn't, like cheating on a test. I was even contemplating posting it since I am a little embarrassed, but this is supposed to be a documentation of my journey so I thought it was better to be honest. Nonetheless, I am just too dang excited!