19 weeks.

Woo-Hoo! We got a fruit again finally! (I will like looking at this on my desktop a little better)

At 19 weeks, my baby is a.... Mango!

Searched lots of websites for information on the baby at 19 weeks and honestly all the information is a little unappetizing for anybody other than me probably. I will spare you of the details :) I could not find any details that were just basic and non-graphic. As for the size though, I can't believe how fast Mini Bee is growing! My belly isn't growing too much lately but I guess a belly shoot would show the change if there is any. Speaking of which, we hope to do one this week.

I will say that Mini Bee seems to be getting more active by the day. The movement is felt not only at night now but I still haven't managed to get Mitch to feel it. One of these days I am sure!  We have our appointment on Friday and hopefully from there we can schedule an ultrasound. Lots of thought has gone into whether we are going to find out what we are having and even though I am still on the fence, I am leaning more towards Mitch's side with finding out.... We will have to wait and see though if I stay on that decision :)

Baby Registry.

We started a baby registry at Target today for Mini Bee as captured here on Mitch's iphone:

So... That was an experience. So many cute things and clever products. Then you start to wonder, what exactly are baby necessities? Where do you draw the line? Is a sleep sack to wrap around your baby really something that you need when a blanket could do the same trick? Then again... I think that if a product helps at all with helping our baby to sleep through the night I should maybe register for several! :)
After our attempt to register, I sought out the advice of fellow moms to help decide what we needed (thank you moms) and will be adding/subtracting from our baby registry over the next few weeks I am sure. Clearly I need to do more research. Mitch picked out some items, learned lots of new things while browsing too and enjoyed his official "registry job". Holding the scanner and scanning all wish items. Isn't that every man's job while registering?
We even got a bonus for registering: A cute little bag from Target with lots of good coupons. I love getting prizes and one for being pregnant? Yes please and thank you :)

And because every post is a little better with pictures, I will share the products that I have weeded out as non-essential... :)

The Mom/Baby Snuggie Combo

Baby High Heels (although if we do have a girl she will be decked out with a girly touch--just not these)

The Baby Mop (More like non-essential just in our household after buying 

a pomeranian and persian haha ;)

The "Po-Knee" haha

I am sensing a daddy job trend... The "Dad-dle"

See!?! I can clearly spot essential and non-essential baby items. :) HAHA

18 Weeks.

We have hit another checkpoint. Yesss!
Time seems as though it is starting to get faster as the weeks fly by. And yet, somehow my due date seems so far away. Even with it being so far away, I randomly will catch myself freaking out slightly about not having ONE baby thing in our house. Well wait, I did purchase an adorable bookcase for super cheap on craigslist but really that is the last thing I probably needed in regards to the baby's needs. (But who can pass up an amazing deal, right??) Anyways, I am ok with the length of time we have until baby comes since we aren't real prepared at the minute.
It's interesting through this whole baby experience so far though. I typically like to think of myself as a prepared, well planned for anything person and yet with this baby I feel super relaxed and easy going. I am not sure if I am just learning to relax and not stress out about things I can't control or because I only now am starting to get some type of ambition again after a few months of napping. Either way, I am pretty proud of myself for not cleaning the entire house by now because honestly, I always thought I was born to nest. Previous to being pregnant my husband knew when I would get into these "modes" to steer clear becuase I was on a mission to organize and clean. My two favorite activities-- that is until now when the jobs need to be done.

Some facts about our Mini Bee :)

At 18 weeks, Mini Bee is a Sweet Potato (Hmm... another odd looking wallpaper themed week it appears.)

With being 18 weeks, my baby is moving around like crazy which is what I was sensing with the belly feelings I have been experiencing lately. It will be exciting to be able to feel the movements more often just to be reminded of the wonderful transformation my body is going through. Speaking of that, its almost time for another belly shoot :) It seems as though it grew over this past weekend. I was off a few days from work with the holiday and kids and adults mentioned that it looked bigger. Who knows, maybe it was the horizontal- striped shirt I wore :)
Update on me: I am feeling great. I feel like i am more adjusted to being pregnant and getting obvious enough to show others I am pregnant. A few classroom parents of mine have recently asked when I am due so it must look like a safe enough point to assume that its a baby in there and not a bad choice of diet. haha. Even bigger plus, I have my sweet tooth back AND my appetite back. I even ate a hamburger at a restaurant the other weekend. Big deal since I hadn't really ate much for solid hamburger since November. Feels good to be able to eat food that actually fills me up again. Maybe thats why the little bugger is suddenly kicking harder ;)

Bubbles.

So I think I have had a major development tonight... It's a good one though so don't worry.

The past few days I have been feeling a strange feeling in my tummy. I wasn't fast to label anything because with being pregnant you just never are sure with what your tummy is thinking.

But...
it keeps happening tonight and this is the third night in a row so I am thinking I may be able to assume it finally. It just maybe what I have been hoping for. Mini Bee may be moving around!!!
This is what my tummy feels like...

 It feels like carbonation bubbles going up my side. Kind of a crazy feeling that makes you feel giddy and I really wish I could share it with Mitch. Until then I guess I will savor it myself because before you know it, it will feel more like this...

Out of Order.

Like I said, busy and hectic week at work. We started the week out with Valentines Day which in preschool means madhouse. Sugar highs followed by an even more hyper day Tuesday (still trying to figure that one out although a few did mention that they ate EVERY SINGLE piece of candy in their bags.) This may explain a few things....
Amongst holiday celebrations and classroom days, we have also been prepping and going on home visits with all of our classroom families. Its an awesome experience to get to take a few minutes to sit down with the families and touch base. However, these visits are accompanied by lots of prep work and it is tough trying to catch up with so many families. Hindsight, let's just say the whole process makes me feel like a miracle worker. Unfortunately that feeling only comes AFTER the home visits are completed.
We still have two more days of home visits ahead of us. Quite honestly after the past three days of classroom craziness and filling folders for paperwork to be completed on home visits I feel like this....

Here's to a night filled with great sleep (even after my exhausted-collapse into a heap-nap after work)

17 weeks.

Wow. Sorry to have disappeared from my blog for so long. I had no idea that it had already been a week. Yikes! Let's not let that happen again....

We made it to another checkpoint!

Today we are at 17 weeks and my baby is an  ONION!!

Never have I been such a big fan of onions. Funny confession too. I usually wallpaper my desktop with whatever size fruit my baby is for the week. The lemons were refreshing, avocados a bit overwhelming but onions hmm kind of weird HAHA. In light of the reason I guess I can pull off a whole repeating wall of onions for a week.

Baby Facts:
My babys bones are now becoming hard and they have fingerprints!! So amazing! Still haven't felt any movements yet but anxiously awaiting. Just hoping that I am not missing them with the chaos of the classroom.

Well thats about all I have for tonight. I have a few hectic days of family home visits for my classroom the end of the week but then have a few vacation days next week so I will see if i can pull together some projects for the blog. No promises though :)

16 weeks.

We made it to 16 weeks! Woo-Hoo! We even managed to get a few pictures taken for this milestone. But first, the weekly stats on the baby...


My baby today is an....

 AVOCADO!

4.6 Inches! That seems pretty big suddenly! Crazy how fast they start growing now.

Some additional facts...
Tiny bones are forming in baby's ears, which means the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in and taste buds are forming.

Now onto the part you may be are most interested in. (The other facts are more to help me document my pregnancy and to fill in family members.)

Its getting bigger! :)
Last picture which is hard to tell what I am holding since the image is small... One of those little Valentine Little Debbie heart cakes. Yum! I was laughing hysterically because of what you cant see in the picture. My dog Mac was jumping repeatedly trying to bite the cake. In fact, his head got in the way on the shot that I liked the best.

My Favorite Commercial.

So watching the Puppy Bowl / Super Bowl yesterday I discovered my new favorite commercial... (it actually only aired on Animal Planet during the puppy bowl but figured I should mention the Super Bowl with commercials being the big thing)



So now sure if this commercial cracks me up because its just so cute or if I see my two pets in the roles of these two animals. Pretty sure both but either way, its confirmed. The cat rules the roost with the stink eye while the pup sadly watches. Sounds familiar in my household.

Super (bowl) Weekend.

Last week was one of those weeks in which you feel like it was going to go on forever and you weren't sure if you were going to make it through it. Luckily I made it to Friday afternoon, the start of our weekend. Whew!

This weekend was again a weekend filled with lots of Fargo Force hockey. They were special games though with a mission for raising money for cancer. Friday nights game was centered around two young kids who have leukemia. They love the Force so the Force put together the event to help raise money to help with their medical bills. The kids got to drop the puck, ride the zamboni and do a bunch of other special things. It was a sold out game so a higher percentage of ticket sales went to the families of the children. It was awesome to see all the wonderful community support.
Here are some pictures that my husband took...
(All Images are property of mJoy Photography) 

Saturday night was to raise funds for cancer in general. The game event happens every year and it is called "Pink in the Rink". All of the players wear pink jerseys, that are auctioned off at the end of the game to raise money for cancer. To make it even better, the Force played their best game of the season last night hands down! It was super exciting, yet stressful beyond belief. I felt like I got a taste for what guys feel like during the Super Bowl when their favorite teams play. Heart attack city! All ending with a win!

Fast forward to Sunday. Super bowl Sunday. Not something that is exciting in our household because we are not big football fans; however, we found a way to make it a little more enjoyable. I made up appetizer treats for us and we started off the festivities watching the puppy bowl too. Nothing like a bunch of cute young pups running around with each other. All in all it was a wonderful day of rest and treats.

Here is a picture of our feast :) (Notice who is checking out the feast--yes he got some)

Veggie Pizza and Taco Dip :)

I will try to hold onto this great relaxing day as I forge through another long work week. Hopefully we will have more time this week to do another belly shoot. We got home too late every night last week to do one but we need to do one so I guess this week it is! :)

15 weeks.

We made it to 15 weeks! I am starting to feel as though this is going to be a slow procedure. In the beginning I felt like the weeks were flying and now its... oh yeah I am still 15 weeks. Hoping once the weather gets a little nicer out time will pick up again.

Here are the details for my current checkpoint:

For the first time my baby's legs are longer than their arms. It has functioning joints on all four limbs. It is very active and wiggling around lots and soon I should start feeling it :)

Doctor Appointment Update:

We found out our baby was feeling a little stubborn yesterday. Our doctor searched for the heartbeat for a few minutes and had a hard time locating it. Instead of the heartbeat, we kept hearing the baby move away from the microphone. Because the baby was so active, its heart rate was at 153. The typical ranges are between 120-160 with 120 being closer to resting rate. Once we were able to locate the heartbeat, it stayed still for us to listen for over a minute. Hearing the heartbeat is such a soothing sound to listen to and very reassuring. The doctor mentioned that he wouldn't order us to have another ultrasound until at least 20 weeks so I guess we have a little while before we have to officially decide to find out or not. We are off the hook until then ;)

Also, I was explaining to my doctor that was I still holding onto my first due date they gave me (July 6th). He then explained that the ultrasound said July 25th and with it being done so early it was pretty accurate. Apparently the earlier you check the size of the fetus on an ultrasound the less variance there is for size. Guess I should start settling on a due date for July 25th :)