baby ole :: week 24

this weekend, mom and i headed up to duluth to visit grama in her nursing home (temporary stay after breaking her hip). we met duawn and ronda up there. it was a blast! we stayed in solon springs wi which is where duawn and ronda lived for a while and have family. it was only 1.5 hours from my house in bloomer. easy drive, beautiful fall colors. we had a great time! we took grama to lunch, then when she napped we went and picked rocks, then we had her birthday party complete with balloons, presents, and a tiara & sash. she loved it and did great! she didn't repeat any of her usual stories. it was a quick but great trip and so fun to spend time with ronda and duawn for both mom and me.

 i love the north shore!!

 agates!!

 birthday girl! #96

 then sunday al and i got some things done around the house and outside since it was so nice out. we watched the packer viking game until i'd had enough and went to bed (obviously the vikes lost :(). i was not ready for work on monday; the weekend went by so fast. on tuesday, after work, al and i moved our tv, couch and other small items up a level for the winter. i almost puked during the couch move and then almost passed out afterwards. probably a lil too much for this preggo, but we only had to move it 6 steps up so all is good.

 

 

it was also halloween this week. baby ole got to dress up for the first time, kind of :)

we/he was "one direction" - nice and easy



 i keep feeling like my bump is tiny and not really noticable,

but with no shirt over it, from the front you can definitely tell

it's a baby bump and not just a beer gut :)

 and this finally happened this week

- homemade jean extended :)

also i put my belly band over this too,

which makes going to the bathroom a lengthy process

How far along: 24 weeks

How big is baby: size of a cantaloupe

Weight gain/loss: 10-13 pounds

Stretch marks: none

Sleep: still sleeping pretty well; flip flop from side to side often.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: nothing, still really loving fresh fruit & veggies, especially apples.

Movement: feeling movement daily. while we were watching a movie tuesday afternoon, tator was laying on my belly and the baby was moving/kicking harder than i've felt yet. trying to pet tator i'd guess :)

What I'm loving:  the new living area which will hopefully be warmer.

Symptoms: lots of heartburn this week. monday and tuesday all day; not bad just there and annoying.

What I'm looking forward to:  the weekend :)

Best moment of the week:  the weekend was lots of fun!

How I'm feeling: not looking forward to winter for once. and not looking forward to daylight savings time. i dislike being home especially alone when it's dark. but exctied for the holidays and only 1.5 months of school left!! :)

baby ole :: week 23

this week started with a proof test in class that i was incredibly nervous about but then ended up finishing it in 6 minutes. then it was a weekend of organizing. mom came down saturday to help me with a bunch jobs around the house while al worked 12 hours. we got a ton done but i was hurtin afterwards, darn hip! (i have since found out that it is actually sacroiliac joint pain that is often triggered by pregnancy. which makes me feel better that there's not something wrong with me :])

first we went shopping: we went to an apple orchard (yummy!), to menards, and to shopko (our favorite!). we also had a late lunch at main street cafe in bloomer which included buying a pecan pie that was beyond delicious!

upon our return, we moved everything out of the office room closet, then moved all my clothes (i had a whole room as my closet) and dressers into the office room (the bigger of the 2). we also hauled most of the stuff that was in the office into other areas: closets and down 2 levels so that al and i could go through it all. mom vacuumed both rooms and dusted everything; so thankful for moms, in particular mine! after getting all that done, we brought all the baby stuff we've gotten as hand-me-downs up to the baby's room (my old closet room). we tore apart all the seats and things that needed to be washed, put away some clothes and i put his toys and books on his book shelf. we have a lot of stuff but at the same time still have a lot to get. we also sanded down the little dresser we had gotten for him at a garage sale and primed it. i painted the first coat of the grey on it on sunday.

then on sunday, al and i brought all the totes that had our crap in them into the tv room and went through it all. we ended up emptying about 6 or 7 totes! and got our house back into at least working order. we labeled every tote this time and put them neatly on the shelves in the basement so we know where everything is. such a great project done!

al also had monday and tuesday off, so he ended up getting all but 2 windows plastic-ed (in hopes of keeping this frozen tundra, i mean large badly insulated house, i mean this wonderful house on 5 acres that we've [kind of] chosen to stay in, warmer than last winter). he also made brownies and mowed the lawn; i'm not sure who put the quarter in him, but i was very happy and thankful he did it all without me asking (read: nagging) him about it.

i bought a thermometer and it's been between 57-59 degrees in our house; cold! but we have to put more propane in the tank so we don't want to turn the thermostats up yet and it's still bearable. i'm sure i'll turn on the little space heater i got soon tho. we also need to move the tv and couch up one level that will hopefully be warmer, but that will likely wait until next weekend or later.

trying a new location for pictures this week, not the best lighting. and maybe someday i'll wear cute clothes and do my hair :)

 

How far along: 23 weeks

How big is baby: size of a grapefruit

Weight gain/loss: 10-13 pounds

Stretch marks: none

Sleep: still sleeping pretty well; flip flop from side to side often. 

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: nothing, still really loving fresh fruit & veggies, especially apples.

 

Movement: feeling movement daily. he was really active on sunday while we were watching football and al got to really feel him move. the movement this time was much higher than usual, above my belly button.

What I'm loving:  still loving the beautiful fall colors and being home more. oh yeah, and only having to put gas in the vw once in 10 days instead of the 3x per week i was doing.

Symptoms: hip pain (sacroiliac), tough to bend over for too long like when tying my shoes, had some headaches early this week

What I'm looking forward to:  going to duluth with mom, ronda and duawn for grama's birthday.

Best moment of the week:  getting to spend a lot of time at home with al on sunday and tuesday.

How I'm feeling: still unsure about school. i miss getting to come home and not worry about homework. also feeling broke as we learned we have to pay for almost all of our ultrasound towards this year's deductible but the rest of baby's expenses will likely be towards next year's deductible. it's a lot of money and would be nice to apply it to the same deductible.

baby ole :: week 22

this week started off with my cousin andrew's wedding to jenny in duluth. since it was a friday wedding, al took off work and i took off work and school. we drove up to the cities, dropped tator off at uncle shane and aunt jodi's house to play with his fur cousins boz and titan, then went to mom's house to pick up my brother. the plan was to ride up with mom but because grama had broken her hip earlier in the week, mom was already in duluth. grama apparently practices her dancing for weddings too hard as she broke her pelvis right before our wedding and now her hip just before andrew's wedding. :)

we got up to duluth, into our hotel (which was a huge room and had free bike rentals since it was right on some trail. munger inn) then mom and i headed up to the other hotel so i could braid angi's hair for the wedding (and so we could play with ruby!!) we went back to get dressed and pick up the boys, then went to spirit mountain for the wedding. it was gorgeous even tho it looked like rain and sprinkled a bit at the end. the food was delicious, the kiddie cocktails were great :) and the cupcakes and candy bar fulfilled our sweet tooth! due to my hip pain and feet pain that i had prior to going to the wedding, i only danced 2 songs. a slow one with al that i had to tell him not to sway so much due to the pain and of course the cupid shuffle (my favorite!). needless to say, i slept well that night!

 ruby!!

nesset siblings (minus wayne who was in CO)

 gorgeous ceremony site

 kiddie cocktails

we drove back in the morning, hung out at shane and jodi's a bit (got to see shane's parents), and eventually headed back to bloomer. we had a lazy football sunday.

i had my 2nd test on wednesday which i felt much better about than the first. we mostly decided, after many failed attempts at finding a house to rent in or nearer to eau claire, that we will likely be staying in our (very cold) house in bloomer. even despite the freezing temps and high propane bills in the winter, i am ok with this decision. the places we looked at were just not even near par and were tiny. plus, now that we've pretty much decided that, i can start organizing and moving things around to create the baby's room. organizing always makes me happy! :)

i had what i think were a couple of pregnancy firsts for me: first attack of hormones and first craving (maybe). on monday, al picked me up from school so we could go look at a house, and i was so stressed and overwhelmed with everything, and after a comment from my professor, i lost it. i decided that i was done with school and didn't want to do it anymore and couldn't stop crying. i got over it eventually especially once my test was done, but i couldn't shake the stressed feeling. then driving to work on thursday morning, i NEEDED chocolate milk. as in, i wasn't going to be able to go on living, working, schooling, driving, anything unless i had chocolate milk. guess i'll be working some more calcium into my diet (i don't drink much milk as my tummy's not so keen on it and don't do a whole lot of other dairy). also, i wore my first pair of maternity pants to work this week, they were leggings from target with a full belly band and they were a little strange/uncomfortable because the belly part was too big so i felt like they were always falling down.

we made chili this week and between al and i, it finally turned out good. a bit too much meat for my taste, but still good. we also got 2 boxes from al's mom in alaska. she sent some of his old toys and clothes. the first one was awesome including his old school ninja turtles, legos and cars/trucks.

How far along: 22 weeks

How big is baby: size of a papaya

Weight gain/loss: 10 pounds

Stretch marks: none

Sleep: still sleeping pretty well, if i wake up in the night (when al comes to bed usually) i'm a bit uncomfortable but nothing too bad.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: nothing, still really loving fresh fruit & veggies, especially apples.

Movement: feeling movement daily, starting to feel a little bit on the outside (especially when i'm laying on my back), hopefully al will be able to feel him soon!

What I'm loving:  the weather! nice and chilly, although we did skip over my favorite temp range of the 60s.

Symptoms:   i noticed that my round ligament pain has either gone away or is just so minimal now that i don't feel it anymore. occassional hip pain still even without softball.

What I'm looking forward to:  organizing the house. the weekend. mom coming to visit.

Best moment of the week:  the wedding and seeing family.

How I'm feeling: still feeling stressed about pretty much everything but with the living situation under control and a test complete, i'm better now.

baby ole :: week 21

this weekend al and i ran errands in eau claire (yay for al having weekends off!) and got the volkswagen some new tires, which took far too long. then sunday was manda's norwex party and mom and i went to ikea and burlington to look at cribs (i didn't like the ikea cribs as much as i thought i did). then softball sunday and monday night; my last 4 games of the season. i'm so glad to be done with softball. i'm going to miss the exercise and my friends and seeing my mom every week, but i'm so looking forward to not driving and not being away from home, al and tator 3 nights a week.

we've started looking at places to live in eau claire and/or chippewa. now that we've completed our lease here in bloomer and al's living requirements have changed, we're considering moving closer to work, school and the cities. i'd love to stay within the county so that al can still take his squad home, but the options are limited. i'm also having some difficulty leaving here; we're so spoiled with the cheap rent, lots of land, large house, no neighbors, the cats, etc. but to save in heat and gas might be worth it. we'll see what happens. hopefully i don't pull a manda and end up moving right around my due date. :)

this week my jeans started getting uncomfortable after wearing them for a couple hours. guess it's about time to start using the bella band and admitting that this little guy is making my belly bigger...

How far along: 21 weeks

How big is baby: size of a pomegrantae

Weight gain/loss: 7-9 pounds

Stretch marks: none

Sleep: still sleeping pretty well

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: nothing, still really loving fresh fruit & veggies

Movement: feeling movement daily

What I'm loving: the daily, large amounts of movement. getting to make more concrete decisions since we know he's a boy.

Symptoms:  lots of heartburn this week.

What I'm looking forward to:  andrew and jenny's wedding and bumming around duluth! then watching the greeder kids saturday-sunday with al (although, i will undoubtedly be exhausted after this weekend) :)

Best moment of the week:  ending softball; it was great weather, fun with friends and i'm glad it's over.

How I'm feeling: tired. ready to have more time at home and for homework.

baby ole :: week 20

halfway! and we had our first ultra sound and.... it's a BOY!!! crazy!! i didn't think i had any preconceived notions on what gender it was until the ultra sound tech said "well, there's your gender" and it was very clearly a boy. i guess i really really thought it was a girl/that we'd have a girl first. i was shocked and had to keep saying "it's a boy" for days afterwards.

i went into the ultra sound about to pee my pants (as i had to have a full bladder). luckily, when she put the camera on she was able to see how "full" i was and quickly let me go to the bathroom. then came the fun stuff: seeing baby ole. we got to see it all: face (skull), arms, hands, spine, belly, heart, brain, legs, feet, placenta, gender. we got pictures of each except his profile (which is what i really wanted to see). he kept putting his arms and hands in front of his face and moving. and then when she left for a little bit and came back to try again, he had buried his face farther in. little stinker. all was normal and looked great. 10 fingers and toes, 4 chambers of the heart, 2 sides of the brain, great blood flow through the cord and spine.

he was very active and wouldn't sit still but is measuring average and right on his due date. he is also a very proud little boy according to the tech. :) there was no mistaking his gender and she didn't even have to tell us it was so obvious. i'm so happy to know and be able to plan a little further. dinosaurs it is.

 after i got over some of the shock of having a boy (or perhaps to help with it) i decided to craft something for him. mom wanted to get started on his aphgan and thus wanted me to go with her to joann to pick out yarn. so i took that opportunity to pick up some boy flannel to make burp clothes. i was pretty excited to find ninja turtle, dinosaur (his room theme) and sports.

here are some of the ultra sound pictures:

here's his face/skull

 and with his mouth open :)





here's the best profile we got, blurry tho.

arm and hand 

 foot

 and gender :)

How far along: 20 weeks

How big is baby: size of a banana

Weight gain/loss: 7-9 pounds

Stretch marks: none

Sleep: still sleeping pretty well

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: nothing, still really loving fresh fruit & veggies

Movement: feeling movement daily

What I'm loving: the weather and the end of softball (and so much driving) coming soon. and getting used to the thought of having a son (momma's boy?) :] 

Symptoms: still lots of pubic bone/muscle pain and rear hip pain after softball and while walking. 

 

What I'm looking forward to:  having a normal, less driving schedule. being home more. my cousin andrew's wedding in duluth.

Best moment of the week: the gender reveal!

How I'm feeling: sore, tired, hurting and still in shock that he's a boy!