21 Weeks

Things are pretty much back to normal.  We had our big 20 week appointment this week.  Plenty of good reviews from the doctor and the ultrasound tech.  Scott did learn how to read ultrasounds and we'll find out in 18 weeks if he is right.

Size of Baby: Spaghetti Squash (8in., 1lb.) - This kid is getting big fast!

Total Weight Gain: I've only gained 6lbs.  I'm happy to say that it's not a crazy weight gain like I thought it would have been early on.  I'm sure I'll be packing on the pounds shortly.

Continuing Symptoms: I'm still waking up with headaches and congestion but nothing too horrible.  I'm feeling a lot more normal with the exception of going to bed by 9.  At least my sleeping habits are getting better and I'm sleeping more through the night with the lack of sugar after 3PM.

New Symptoms This Week: No new symptoms.  Starting to feel the baby move more and more.  Hopefully, Scott will feel it soon.

Maternity Clothes: I'm pretty much only wearing maternity clothes these days.  We finally found a pair of black pants for work and I'm good to go.

 

Scott does Pinterest

A new hobby I have is checking out Pinterest and seeing what I can create or get new recipe ideas. It's been helpful in getting some baby ideas as well. So Sunday while we were enjoying our new couches and football, I came across a fun way to use apples. Since we went apple picking a few weeks ago and still have tons of apples, what better way to use them.

Scott remembered that we had a bunch of tea light candles and then it was off to the races.



First he cut the top off the apples and then cut a whole in the apple to fit the candle inside.



Once the candle is set inside light it up and enjoy the apple smell through out the house!

Apples

The best part about apple picking is having so many recipes to do with all the apples.  My favorite pie is apple so this time of year is perfect for me.  The down side is that being pregnant I need to figure out when to eat all these goodies during the day since my sugar cut off is around 3PM.  As much as I love these deserts I love my sleep a little more.

That being said, my first dish was apple pie.  It seems to be getting easier to make these quickly every year.  I always tend to peal more apples than I need but it makes the pies that much better.  I mix everything up first



Once I get everything mixed well it goes into the crust.  This year I've been lazy and just bought pie crusts.  It's easier and fairly cheap.



And then I add the apples and all their flavors.



Add more crust for the top and in the oven it goes.  I wish I had a picture of it just out of the oven but we needed to taste it.  Scott did have to ask if I used canned apple for some of the flavoring.  That made me feel pretty good knowing that everything was made fresh, minus the crust.

The other apple dish I made recently is a crock pot apple crisp.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and thought it was pretty easy.  It was mostly the same ingredients as the apple pie plus a few other spices and turned the crock pot on for a couple of hours.  I haven't tried it yet but Scott tells me that it needs to be made again.

20 weeks! Half way to baby!

Things are pretty much back to normal. I'm feeling a lot better, still sleepy by 9. We postponed our 20 week appointment till Monday, 9-24.

Size of Baby: Banana (7in., 11oz)

Total Weight Gain: Not sure going to the doctor next week for the 20 week check up

Continuing Symptoms: I had a migraine during the past week. I was able to get some Tylenol and get back to sleep before it got really bad. I only missed a couple of hours of work. Other symptoms are that I'm just sleepy by 9 and that works out great during the week.

New Symptoms This Week: Nothing new this week. Still feeling the stretching pains and the movements/twitching feelings are getting a little stronger.

Maternity Clothes: This is still the same from last week. I can wear t-shirts that are a little bigger and still one pair of pants that I wear to work. I do love my maternity jeans, they are great.

19 Weeks - almost half way

Great news this week, I'm staying up later every night and starting to feel more normal.

Size of Baby: Heirloom Tomato (6in., 8.5oz)

Total Weight Gain:  Not sure going to the doctor next week for the 20 week check up

Continuing Symptoms: Sleeping is coming and going as I'm always going.

New Symptoms This Week:  Started to feel pains on either side of my stomach (ligaments are growing and shifting) and more poking feelings when it's quiet.

Maternity Clothes: I can get away with some regular shirts and one pair of pants.  But normally I'm wearing maternity clothes.

Fall Traditions

Scott and I have some annual fall traditions that we have done since we started dating and I love them.  Starting with Labor Day weekend we check out Greek Festival at St. Nicholas, then watch the Tour de St. Louis on the Hill, and to finish the day we listen to some live Blues music on the Landing at Muddy Blues.  This year with the remnants of hurricane Isaac swarming around St. Louis we only made it to Greek Festival.  But that's ok, I don't think I could handle the other two events this year.

Late September we go over to Belleville, IL to pick apples and get our pumpkins.  With the small selection of apples last year we (I) made it a point to get over there closer to Labor Day weekend.  And that is what we did this past weekend.

First attended a 2 year olds birthday party, my friend from high school's son turned 2.  It was a first for Scott and a lot to take in.  He was able to talk to a new father of a 4 week old while we were there.  I think he manged to get a good look at what will be happening for us in 2 years.

Afterwards we headed over to Belleville to get some apples.  There was a decent crowd and a long line waiting to get on the tractors to pick some apples.

[caption id="attachment_2214" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The normal cheesy pose[/caption]

Once we got to our designated rows of apples to pick we found out that we had 3 choices of apples and the selection was great.

[caption id="attachment_2213" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Getting the high ones[/caption]

Now we have 30 lbs of apples, it's time to start the apple pies, applesauce, and candy apples.  The fun part about going apple picking this year is that we get to see how different will be next year when there is a 7 month old with us!

Lack of Sleep

I miss consistent sleep.  During the last few weeks it's been hard to stay asleep all night.  I'm used to the getting up and going to the bathroom at least 3 times a night, but normally I can fall back to sleep.  Now days, I'm up at 2AM, letting the dog out, going to the bathroom and then up for at least an hour.  I'm wide awake, tossing and turning.  Sometimes a movie that I listen to will put be back to sleep but lately they aren't working.

Yes, there are things on my mind about the baby, work, life that keep me up.  However, I'm unable to keep my eyes open at 9PM, I feel that I am tired enough to get through the night.  After reading many blogs, I have been trying to cut out sugar after lunch and Reily and I have taken up walking around the block after dinner.  I do think Reily's movements(eating/drinking) in the middle of the night contribute to my inability to stay asleep.

But I really just want a nice relaxing sleep - I know that won't happen, especially once the baby is here.  So for now I'll take what I can get.

18 Week Update

Not too much has changed this week, still getting better eating more and more.

Size of Baby: Mango (my husband's favorite fruit ;-) ) (6 in., .5lbs)

Total Weight Gain:  Not 100% sure but I can tell I've gain some weight this week, but total for sure is 2lbs.

Continuing Symptoms: Still not sleeping well, but I'm walking Reily around the block and no sugar after noon, so far so good.  Frequent urination (most of the cause for not sleeping), and disgusted by bathrooms causing nausea.

New Symptoms This Week:  Morning headaches

Maternity Clothes: I broke down and bought some jeans and now I wonder why I waited so long.  Bought some new shirts and jeans - still need some black work pants and I'll be set for a while.

Sleep: Going to bed around 8:30-9 but waking up a lot at night.

What I’m Eating: I'm finally eating bigger meals and wanting to eat anything but chicken.

Cravings: Sweets

Movement: Nothing noticeable yet

Labor Signs: Nope

Labor Day

This weekend started out to be a dreary weekend.  With the remnants of hurricane Isaac rolling through the St. Louis area there wasn't much planned.  Plus college football started this weekend so I couldn't think of a better way to spend a raining Saturday than watching football on the couch.

We did get a few things done, like shopping.  I'm starting to finally out grow most of my clothes so I broke down and bought some jeans and more fall tops.  We made it down to Soulard to get some much-needed grocery shopping.

On Labor Day we spent the day here.



We watched the Cardinals beat the Mets.  Our seats, thanks to Groupon, were pretty good.  We had no one next to us until the 3rd inning.  Then a family sat down and blocked my wind and I wasn't going to last much longer.  We hung out by a vendor stand and watched till the 7th inning.  Then it was time to get home.  By the time we got home we were able to watch the bottom of the 8th and top of the 9th innings - which got a little too close for comfort.

Thankfully we came away with a win.  I hope the Cards and get on a rally and put a little more distance between them and other wild card teams.