28 Weeks

Holy cow, I only have 12 weeks to go... assuming baby doesn't decide to sleep in for two weeks like I did before I was born. I recently returned from Arizona and it seems that baby thrived with the warmer temperatures and laid back retirement lifestyle that Yuma has to offer. Baby had two full weeks sans stress, loads of Vitamin D, good food, and plenty of love from Grandma and Grandpa... sorry, Mom, Gram and Grandpa. I feel like time is flying by at warp speeds and I am not mentally prepared for the arrival of this baby quite yet. Thank goodness for Justin; while I was gone he cleaned the carpets and emptied the baby's room of all the guest furniture which is a huge start. We have a blank canvas to work from, and I'm excited to officially begin the nesting phase of this pregnancy.

25 Weeks

I was supposed to take a picture last weekend, but you know, life gets busy. I have been enjoying my growing belly and all the movement taking place. It's very distracting and I find myself zoning in on all the kicks and rolling motions throughout the day; it's like someone is playing pinball inside me. Physically I feel great, and I'm having more restful nights now. I'm starting to unwind and relax; this is my last week of work in sales and I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends before I leave for Arizona on Monday. I am looking forward to some warmer temperatures and sunshine to say the least. We've had a couple nice days in Hood River and it's amazing how many people start dancing around like their starring in a Broadway show when the sun comes out.

20 weeks

This one is for you Melissa! I'm officially 20 weeks in this picture; the belly is getting tight. My abs feel like they're about to explode and I'm only half way there. Is this normal? And I believe I see a hint of a stretch mark creeping up from way below. I hear it doesn't matter how much Shea butter, oil and salve you plaster on it; this is hereditary and I am predestined to get tatooed with the best of them. I went shopping for maternity pants last weekend and didn't find one pair that didn't remind me of bad mom jeans that would land me on an episode of What Not to Wear. I'll stick with the rubberband method for now. I'm still dealing with a bit of insomnia, but that's about all I have to complain about. I had my second pregnancy dream last night and it was a fair-skinned, perfect baby girl. I wonder if my dreams are trying to tell me something...

Justin felt the baby kick for the first time at 20 weeks; he is loving this experience just about as much as I am, and he's enjoying my round belly and other rotund things a little further north. Our next appointment is February 2nd. We got to enjoy the heart beat again - this time it was a little longer and stronger, but apparently our baby is very active, so we heard more swooshing sounds from his/her movement than actual heart beats. I also found out I have an irregular uterus, yeehaw. I noticed that I always felt movement on my right side and after our midwife felt around my stomach she noticed that there wasn't much real estate on my left side. I'm prepared to be a tad lopsided as this pregnancy progresses; hopefully people don't mistaken my baby bump for an abnormally large tumor.

Bears vs Patriots 36-7 loss

Our whirlwind trip to Chicago over a very short weekend was an experience like none other. Justin's long-lived dream to see the Bears play at Soldier Field finally came true, plans were set in place months in advance, and this was about to become the highlight of our year... or so we thought. The trip started off great; I met Justin at our favorite hotel, the Hampton Inn (always clean, smells nice, comfy beds, great continental breakfast, military discount). He was already in Portland finishing up his monthly drill day. We had a nice relaxing night and we were both filled with excitement for the big event on Sunday. Our plane left in the morning Saturday; Southwest does not assign seats and we found that most travelers were solo flyers, so on both rows all the way to the end of the plane just one middle seat was available and people were not in the mood to scoot over or change the seats that they had already laid claim to. I ended up in between two fairly nice travelers, although one woman had extremely foul breath and she defaulted to sleeping with her mouth wide open, aimed right at my very pregnant-sensitive schnoz. We landed in Chicago and we finally got settled into our hotel, which was nice, but I noticed some very questionable stains on the comforter and plush head board, yuk. We planned to eat at Ditka's downtown, which would have been about a 25 minute walk, so we opted for a urine soaked van cab, with a driver that couldn't possibly be legitimately licensed. Justin ended up tipping him $4 just so he could get the hell out, much to my dismay. Ditka's ended up being a 2 hour wait and everyone was dressed to the nines so we took our scrubby selves right out and walked around downtown to find a more fitting dining spot. We landed at Rock Bottom grill, which was able to seat us right away, and we enjoyed a nice steak dinner. We left the hotel the next morning and walked to Soldier Field in 17 degree temps and full on blizzard. We had little warmers stuck to our feet, hands, and butts and the chill still found its way in. Soldier field was amazing, and Justin fit right in with his fellow Bears fans. We were given free Bears oven mitts upon entering the stadium, which was about the best thing about that game. After a $7 hot chocolate, $8 beer for Justin, snow flurries, biting wind, and borderline frostbite, we courageously sat through the entire game while the Bears endured a complete and utter beat down from the Patriots. It wasn't so bad once I started cheering for the other team; I never claimed to be a loyal fan. We left the game trying to stay positive about the whole experience and went searching for some Chicago deep dish pizza, which ultimately made our night. Lou Malnati's Pizzeria was our hero that night. Our plane flew out Monday into beautiful blue sky; I felt ripped off because due to our short timeline and horrible weather, we didn't get to experience much of Chicago at all. We vow to go back in the Summer someday so we can tour around a little more and enjoy some of the attractions.

17.5 Weeks

Here is the latest photo of baby as we head into our 18th week of pregnancy. I feel like I've officially popped over the weekend and my pants are definitely starting to cut off circulation at the waist. My next move... button extenders, because I refuse to go out and buy maternity pants. Why? It's a combination of being lazy and cheap. Our next appointment is January 5th and I look forward to our half-way point. Everyone keeps asking if we're going to cave and find out if it's a boy or girl in the next couple months, and the answer is no. We really feel like the surprise is going to be 100% more exciting if we wait. And we do have our names picked out, but we're not going to reveal them until baby is here - we're loads of fun, aren't we?! All in all, I feel great; I'm so blessed this pregnancy has been so easy. A couple noticeable pregnancy symptoms in my second trimester: still have to pee all the live long day, I wake up quite a bit throughout the night, which causes me to remember some pretty whacked out dreams, and baby does not like my signature meal, chips and salsa:(

Justin has been enjoying watching the belly grow; I think it makes him feel more connected now that he can finally see things are happening. And of course, he's more than excited about my now normal sized twins up top. It feels great graduating from my typical A/B to a more womanly full B+/C.

One week until Christmas! We wish you all a happy holiday and even better New Year!

Love that beat

This week we got the pleasure of hearing our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was incredible, and now this pregnancy seems more real than ever. Our midwife thought it was around 140 beats a minute, and everyone is taking their guesses as to what the gender is. So far I'd say there are more girl votes than boy votes. I am beginning to feel really light movements that are best described as bubbles popping or little thuds almost like random heart beats, and rolling motions; it's a trip. My mid-section seems to be getting thicker but I have yet to pop into the round, unmistakable pregnant belly - at least I'm getting some mileage out of my old clothes. I'll take the next belly shot sometime in the next couple weeks when I'm 16-17 weeks along.

Justin has begun taking on construction projects around the house despite the snowfall and cold temps outside. I'm sure that May 27th deadline is prominently positioned in the back of his mind and he's got a mental list of all the things he wants to complete before baby Moore arrives. He put our new mudroom up in record time so we have a few extra square feet to store items that are taking up our living space. Next on his list - a chicken coop so we can enjoy fresh eggs 15 feet from our kitchen. Gotta love living on a farm where we can have such luxuries. And after watching Food, Inc, we feel much better knowing our eggs are coming from spoiled, happy hens.

Next weekend... Chicago, where we'll hopefully observe the Bears cremate the Patriots right there in Soldier Field. More later...

It's official!

It's been awhile since our last post and it's most likely because I've been enjoying having my hubby home. Life is good again - and even better now that we're expecting a new little Moore on May 27th. It's so nice to have the secret out; it's hard keeping something like this from family and friends for three long months. I was wondering when someone might call me on my gin-less tonics and vodka-less sodas.

I will keep track of the expanding belly - the top is week 7 1/2 (the baby is the size of a blueberry), and week 12 1/2 (baby is the size of a lime and can already squirm around in there). I've been super lucky and haven't felt any morning sickness, just an occasional mood swing here and there. And my memory sucks. And I have to pee a lot. And I can't sleep. Other than that, everything's awesome. Justin is already proving he's going to be a great dad; he cleaned up cat puke on his birthday instead of leaving it for me when I got home from work and pretending he didn't see it... how things have changed.

I will hear the heart beat at my next appointment December 1st, so we're stoked - I think it will become even more real then; sometimes it's hard to believe there's anything in there. We'll wait to find out the sex of the baby - it's so much more fun that way in my opinion, like the excitement of opening Christmas presents when you're a kid when you didn't peek and spoil the surprise. Until next time...