19 Weeks

I forgot to mention in my last post, but didn't want to forget, during our ultrasound, baby girl was trying to suck her thumb, but had the hiccups. She kept getting her thumb into her mouth, hiccuping, and then losing it. It was the cutest thing - I just wanted to help her!

Boy or Girl? We Know!

We found out the gender!

A little girl!!! Just as I had thought. And the wives were pretty close on their tales as well. 

We say large because, well, she's large. Next week she is supposed to weigh 8 ounces, and this week she already weighs 10 ounces. That's a big difference! I was an almost 9 pound baby, so I think she just takes after her mama. 

After finding out, we had to buy the first outfit. Something completely impractical and too expensive. This is what we picked out:

And then, to tell work, I made some cupcakes that were white and silver.

I teased my co-workers all day about it, and didn't bring them out until after 2 pm.

I told them once they opened them, they would find out!

PINK! 

We are so thrilled! Like I said in a previous post, we would be so happy either way. But now we know that it is a little girl - we just keeping thinking of more reasons to love her! 

Now the big question: what color hair will she have?

18 Weeks

Old Wives Tales That Don't Involve Peeing on Household Chemicals

Shockingly, as the title suggests, that does narrow down our choices in wives tales.

So, will our little one wear this polo?

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Or this polo?

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This outfit?

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Or this outfit?

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This outfit?

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Or this outfit?

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These Cole Haan's?

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Or these Cole Haans?

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Let's see what the wives think. 

Next time your OB pulls out the Doppler to listen to baby's heartbeat, ask her to tell you what the heart rate is. According to legend, 140+ beats per minute indicates a girl, and below 140 a boy. Girl!

Legend has it that the Mayans determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age and the year. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy. Girl!

Pop off your wedding ring -- if you still can! -- and tie it to a string. Hang it over your belly. If it swings in a circle, a little guy's in your future. If it goes back and forth, you've got a girl. Girl! (Although we did find contradicting articles on this one. Personally, I think its a way for the 'ring test' to always be accurate. If yours went in circles, you can find a copy of this wives tale that is accurate, no matter what you are having! Kind of like when Dan makes bets - he likes to be on the record saying both sides. So he can always be right.)

Sick as a dog during the first trimester -- or still? Signs indicate you're having a girl. Little or no morning sickness points to a boy. Girl!

If you have dreams that you are having a boy, you will have a girl. If you dream about having a girl, it will be a boy. Dreams show the opposite of what you are having. Girl!

If a pregnant woman prefers to lay on her left side, she's having a boy. If she prefers resting on her right side, she's having a girl. Girl! (This one is weird. I always have slept on my side, needing to switch constantly so I'm laying on each side equally. Since I've been pregnant though, only the right is comfortable.)

If the dad-to-be gains weight while you are pregnant, it's a girl. If he doesn't gain weight, you're having a boy. Boy!

It is said that when you can only think of specific names for a boy or a girl, you will have that particularly baby. Boy!

Rumor has it that if you are carrying your baby high, it's a girl. Carrying low? Stock up on blue. Girl! 

Craving sweets? According to some, that means your going to have a little girl. Salty and sour cravings indicate a boy. Girl! (This one really should be thrown out. I love dessert. I don't think pregnancy would change that one.)

There we have it! The wives are not consistent. They give a 70-80% chance of a girl, depending on the article you read, and only considering the tales that I have chosen to post here. Overall, I think its pretty scientific. We will find out soooon!

Boy or Girl?

Well .. we don’t know yet.

But people keep asking whether we are hoping for a boy or a girl.

Honestly, we really don’t care. And we aren’t just saying that. I know many people who say “we want a health baby” but .. if you really get down to it, they have a preference one way or another. We absolutely don’t care. We really want a healthy baby. And it’s actually a good thing that it isn’t up to us! I really don’t know how we would decide.

On the one hand, I want a boy. Seeing how excited Dan gets when he sees little boy clothes. I would have another person in the house to help kill bugs. (Koda used to eat them, but now that we feed her, she’s pretty picky, and Dan has to kill the bugs). Boy names are so much easier! Our guest bathroom has blue and green tiles, and the loft is currently a Packers themed mancave. We love football in this house, and the idea of all of our children having an older brother makes me happy.

On the other hand, I want a girl. Baby girl clothes are much cuter. I babysat for mostly girls and definitely know how to entertain them. They tend to be calmer than boys in their younger years. All of our children would have an older sister, who would learn the art of diaper changing really quickly :). And my incredibly generous cousin has saved the baby clothes from her 3 year old daughter – most of which we would inherit.

This is going to sound really weird, so hopefully I explain it well. Unless they found boy and girl twins in there, I think part of me will be a little sad either way. Now, I know that will be fully overshadowed by how much more real this little baby will be to us after knowing the gender. And twins would scare the crap out me! But right now, I can picture both. One little son. One little daughter. And when we find out, one of those will go away. At least for a few years.

I do think that once we know we won’t be able to imagine it any other way.

But, again, it’s a good thing that I don’t get to do the picking!

Now the other question people keep asking me: what do you think it is?

A girl.

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have any inclination on what I think this little pumpkin is. For some reason, from absolutely day one, my gut tells me this is a little girl. I don’t know if it was seeing those two pink lines, and if I had taken a blue test it might be different! But from the very beginning, if I had to guess, I would guess girl.

Now, to throw in a curve ball. Whenever I have guessed what pregnant friends are having, I have been 100% wrong. Every. Time. I don’t even have statistics on my side with 50 / 50. I have never once been right. In fact, most recently as a friend was finding out what she was having, I told her, “I think it’s a boy. Which means, you can count on finding out that it is a girl.” She called me a few hours later to tell me about her baby girl!

So this has some of Dan’s family convinced that it is a boy! Haha.

My friend Sam and I went through some crazy wives tales – well, all of the ones that didn’t involve peeing on a household chemical – and came up with some interesting results. I’ll post those next!

17 Weeks

I wasn't wearing the best shirt for this, so I tried to hold it down a little. Part of it might be the chocolate croissants we had for breakfast, but I think the rest is baby.

Zucchini

Dan rarely ever goes to the grocery store, so when I left for Vegas I made sure he had enough food for breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the week. He did joke about how I was going a little overboard and that he knew how to feed himself. And then he texted me the first night, "wait. what's for dinner?" I love him.

When I got home from Vegas, I looked in the fridge to see what we still needed to eat, and ran across something I didn't buy.

K: Did you buy a zucchini?
D: Yeah.
Obviously. This guy never goes to the grocery store.

I look around and that appears to be the only new item.

K: Is that the only thing you bought at the grocery store?
D: Yeah.
Again, obviously. Sometimes a man just needs a zucchini.

K: Why??
D: I was going to make zucchini water.
.....

K: You mean cucumber water?
D: Crap. Did I mess that up?
K: Yeah. You did.

I guess its time to make some zucchini bread. 

16 Weeks

Awkward, pictures-of-kelley-overload is almost over and we can get back to your regularly scheduled programming. I am finally caught up as I was 16 weeks yesterday.

The horizontal stripes help, but baby is growing!! I guess this is what people so lovingly refer to as the 'awkward fat stage.'



How far along: 16 weeks
Size of baby: 4.5 inches (apparently the size they give you doesn't include legs .. odd)
Weight gain: 2 pounds

Symptoms: If I don't eat enough or drink enough, I get really dizzy and lightheaded. It happens instantly too. So I'm packing snacks wherever I go. I think this one is hard for people to realize. If I say, 'hang on, let me grab a snack,' they think that I am just 'pregnant hungry' or 'going to get cranky,' but no, its more like, I will black out in the next 10 minutes if I don't eat now. Other than that, I'm starting to have some back pain - but hoping that keeping up with my current back routine will put this off for awhile.

Cravings: No real cravings, but I have been loving mint chocolate chip ice cream. The all natural one from Breyers. But my parents will tell you, as my birthday cake every year was mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, that this isn't a new thing.

Aversions: I actually can't think of anything that I couldn't eat right now. What a difference from last month! I still can't do cloves. I guess I should explain that one. Story below.

What I miss: Medium rare steak. I hardly ever eat steak, mostly because I'm so picky - it has to be perfect. But now that I can't have it (well .. well done, you might as well rub it in dirt, I'm not eating that), but now that it's off limits, I actually really want it. I keep telling Dan that Ruth's Chris will be our first date night post baby.

Looking Forward to: Finding out the gender!! Especially so we can stop saying "it" and "baby." We will have a proper pronoun: "he" or "she."

Best moment this month: Telling everyone!

Worst moment this month: I can't think of a single thing. I did have a dream that I gave birth to a four year old that looked just like Honey Boo Boo. That was pretty scary.

Why I can't eat cloves: My grandmother had a pickle recipe that is unlike any other. They are sweet cinnamon / clove flavored pickles and delicious. My mom planned to make them and grabbed some inexpensive pickling cucumbers from Trader Joe's while she was in town.  I also picked up a bag of fresh cloves from a spice store near work. My whole car smelled like cloves, the house smelled, it was delicious. Well .. she forgot her ingredients. She sent me the recipe so I could make them. They aren't hard, but they do require 4 days of boiling the mixture, pouring it over the cucumbers, and letting them sit. By the end of the 4 days the morning sickness really started setting in. Night was the worst -- I was home and the whole house smelled like cloves. I would also get carsick and my whole car smelled like cloves. Once the pickles were finished and the kitchen cleaned, I definitely couldn't eat any. 

I had some crackers sitting out near the clove spice bag. I went to pick Dan up from the airport, and, not feeling well, I grabbed some crackers. They had completely absorbed the clove taste. That was the last straw. I thought it was going to kill me. When we got home, Dan dug through the spice cabinets to get out all of the cloves and get them in the outside trash. And any of the crackers and bread that had been sitting out on the counter. 

Seems silly, but the smell still really gets to me right now. It's sad because I might never eat my grandmother's pickles again!

15 Weeks

14 Weeks

13 Weeks