31 weeks & Christmas decorations!

Ah! Time is flying by! I cannot believe we have less than 9 weeks left until our little guy's arrival! Each day that goes by I get more & more excited! 


How far along?  31 weeks
Total weight gain:   about 22 pounds 
Maternity clothes?   yes! I didn't buy as many as I anticipated! I wear a lot of my regular shirts still!
Stretch marks?  Not yet & hopefully never! 
Movement?  Yes all the time! He's an active little baby! 
Sleep? Pretty well! Toss & turn some & still wake up at random times to pee! Thanks little one for thinking my bladder is a comfy place to chill!
Best moment this week:   Receiving some gifts that were mailed! 
Miss Anything?   Wine & having my clothes fitting me well
Food cravings:   Potatoes & juice of all sorts
Anything making you queasy or sick:   nope! 
Starting to show yet? Absolutely! My belly grew tons right around Thanksgiving! 
Gender:   BOY!! 
Labor Signs:   Having what I believe are Braxton Hicks contractions here & there but nothing serious at all
Symptoms:   Heartburn & baby sitting on my sciatic nerve! 
Belly Button in or out?   In
Wedding rings on or off?   On
Happy or Moody most of the time:   Happy! 
Looking forward to:  Decorating the nursery, picking up the crib & getting it put together! 

I cannot believe I'm 31 weeks along already! I feel like we still have so much to do & yet have a bunch done at the same time! Our crib finally came in! All we need is someone with a truck to go with us to pick it up! Can't wait to put it together & start getting the nursery organized! I have also been working on painting the wooden letters of his name to hang on the wall! They're almost done & drying as I type! We also got the stroller Greg's parents bought us! It goes with our car seat & is super sweet! We got it out & opened up & the travel system set up! 

Stroller - Green & Grey
Stroller

The stroller & car seat together! 


On another note we decorated for Christmas last weekend! I love the holidays & everything that comes along with them! Hot cocoa out of a snowman mug, Christmas lights, music, movies! Last weekend, Greg & I definitely watched 5 Christmas movies in one day! Awesome! 

Here's some of our decorations! 

Coffee table with runner & good-smelly candle

Santa! 

Christmas tree welcome sign

Our end table - lots of holiday candy & candy canes! Yum! 

Our snowman family with the stockings & sign I made


Christmas tree!! 

Gosh I love Christmas time! It's different being in Germany with different traditions & far from family! But we are working on making traditions for our little family that we can continue once our little guy is finally here for the holidays! 






28 weeks & Baby Shower

On our visit to the states, my awesome family threw me a baby shower for our soon-to-be little one! It was just around the time I was 28 weeks pregnant so the pics kinda double as a weekly belly bump pic & to show some shots from the shower!


How far along?  28 weeks
Total weight gain:   about 16 pounds
Maternity clothes?   I bought skinny maternity jeans that I'm obsessed with along with some solid tee's & tank tops that I pair with cardigans! Gosh I love fall fashion! 
Stretch marks?  Not yet & hopefully never! 
Sleep? It was rough being away from home & Greg around this time so I would wake up at random times but mostly sleeping well!
Best moment this week:   My baby shower! :) 
Miss Anything?   Wine & Amaretto Sours, & having energy to do lots of things! 
Movement?  Yes all the time! He's an active little baby! 
Food cravings:   Nothing outrageous really! 
Anything making you queasy or sick:   nope! 
Starting to show yet? Absolutely! 
Gender:   BOY!! 
Labor Signs:   NO! And I hope I don't have any for a long time! 
Symptoms:   Heartburn & baby sitting on my sciatic nerve! 
Belly Button in or out?   In
Wedding rings on or off?   On
Happy or Moody most of the time:   Happy! 
Looking forward to:  Decorating for Christmas this weekend! I'm making cutout cookies & hot chocolate for Greg & I to have while we deck the halls! 

Treats table! I love the mugs - they say "New Mom/Dad! I need more coffee! Zzz..."

All of the gifts from our amazing friends & family

My Mom & I

Me & My little sister

I had an amazing time at my shower! I got to see so many people & definitely felt the love for our growing family! I know everyone is excited to meet our little man - not as much as Greg & I but still super excited!
I managed to get the majority of gifts back to Germany in my suitcase, safe & sound without anything breaking! Now I just need to find the energy to go through it all & start organizing his room! Should probably take advantage of the time I have now before I go back to work next week! Well now to cuddle with my lovely husband a little before trying to get a decent night's sleep! 









                                                                                                                           

22 Weeks

So this one is a bit late... But better late than never, right?! I took most of these pictures when I was 22 weeks & am now 23 weeks & 3 days! Oops!





How far along?  22 weeks
Total weight gain:   about 8 pounds
Maternity clothes?   I mostly wear my regular clothes still, but throw in some maternity tees, leggings & jeans here & there. My Bella Bands are my saviors! 
Stretch marks?  Not yet & hopefully never! 
Sleep? It's gotten pretty enjoyable! Congestion cleared up & I've been mostly sleeping all the way through the night! 
Best moment this week:   We bought a few outfits for our little man that we found & thought were super cute!
Miss Anything?   Wine & Amaretto Sours, & having energy to do lots of things! 
Movement?  I believe so! Still not strong thanks to my awesome placenta! [sorry for the tmi!]
Food cravings:   Orange juice & Captain Crunch cereal! Yum!
Anything making you queasy or sick:   nope! 
Starting to show yet? Absolutely! 
Gender:   BOY!! 
Labor Signs:   NO! And I hope I don't have any for a long time! 
Symptoms:   Heartburn is still creeping on me a lot of the time! That's mostly it! 
Belly Button in or out?   In
Wedding rings on or off?   On
Happy or Moody most of the time:   Happy! 
Looking forward to:  Halloween & maybe trick or treating with some friends who have kids & getting ready to travel back to the states next month! 

We went to the Sunshine Pumpkin Farm here in Germany a couple of weeks ago & got some pumpkins! It's one of very few here in Germany since the Germans don't celebrate Halloween like Americans do! But it was pretty cool since we got to get the pumpkins right off of the vine! 

Greg checking out some punpkins


"This one looks good!"


Part of the pumpkin farm


There's so many pumpkins to choose from


I like this one! 


Our 3 pumpkins! Like the little one for our soon-to-come little one? 

More fun that come up! I bought a new orange shirt the other day & wore it to work for the first time! A girl in my class excitedly told me I look like a pumpkin! Sweet! So I decided I would amuse them a little and cut out a pumpkin face from construction paper & taped it onto my belly! The kids LOVED it! They kept lifting up my smock to look at my pumpkin belly! They even keep asking where my pumpkin went when I wear different shirts! 




Well I have to get back to work! Yay full time employment! ha But I shall try & find some time to blog again this weekend & upload some more recent pictures! :) 
Have a good week! 








20 WEEKS!! :)



How far along?  20 weeks
Total weight gain:   about 6 pounds
Maternity clothes?   I mostly wear my regular clothes still, but throw in some maternity tees, leggings & jeans here & there. My Bella Bands are my saviors! 
Stretch marks?  Not yet! I bought some stretch mark cocoa butter with tons of stuff in it so hopefully that helps minimize them!
Sleep? Eh! Between allergies, having to constantly pee, 2 dogs that take up too much room & currently a husband who is gone, it has not been going so well! My body pillow helps some, but somethings gotta give! 
Best moment this week:   My ultrasound!! :) Greg got to be there & we found out not only is baby healthy & big, but also a BOY! 
Miss Anything?   Wine & Amaretto Sours, sleeping through the night & having energy to do lots of things! 
Movement?  I believe so!  I think I am starting to feel his kicks from the outside every once in awhile! 
Food cravings:   BBQ sauce & orange juice! Yes, at the same time! ha
Anything making you queasy or sick:   nope! 
Starting to show yet? Absolutely! 
Gender:   BOY!! So excited about our lil man! He measured 14 ounces & in the 98th percentile! Whoa buddy! 
Labor Signs:   NO! And I hope I don't have any for a long time! 
Symptoms:   Heartburn for like the first time in my life! Peeing a lot & not sleeping so well! 
Belly Button in or out?   In
Wedding rings on or off?   On
Happy or Moody most of the time:   Mostly happy! A little down since Greg's been gone for a few days, but it'll get better! 
Looking forward to:  Buying more things for lil man & starting to decorate the room! 

In case you missed it... Our gender announcement! 


My favorite pic of lil man! Love his hands up by his face! He played with them during the whole ultrasound! 

Whole body profile pic! Check out that spine! 

 Marshmallow Lovers!! Pregnant girl's heaven in the morning!         

Onesies I bought for him! I couldn't resist! Orange & brown football! 

Well Greg is in the field so I've been going a little stir crazy in our house alone! Luckily I have some loving [though sometimes crazy] dogs to keep me company! Got plenty of cleaning done. I wanna organize the baby's room, but that takes so much more energy than I think I want to expel! So I shall wait until Greg is back & we can work on it together! There's a bunch of stuff in there that needs moved out before we get too much more, including his crib! 

And now that I have finished off what seems like half a bag of BBQ chips & ranch dip, I'm off to work on laundry & get ready for dinner with some lovely ladies! 


 




18 Weeks




How far along?  18 weeks
Total weight gain:   no idea! scales are the devil
Maternity clothes?   I've been rocking a few H&M maternity t's, maternity leggings & jeans, & got some Bella Bands! It's all just more comfy that my regular clothes, especially for work
Stretch marks?  Not yet!  Buying some Vitamin E or Cocoa Butter to just make me feel like I'm doing something to prevent them!
Best moment this week:   Got a bunch of awesome stuff on sale last weekend for the baby! Oh and lil one has been moving like crazy all week! 
Miss Anything?   Coffee & wine mostly
Movement?  Definitely! He or she likes to do karate chops already & the other day I almost thought I felt some steady kicking outside of my belly but who really knows! 
Food cravings:   Grapes, BBQ sauce & bagels with strawberry cream cheese
Anything making you queasy or sick:   nope! 
Starting to show yet? Absolutely! 
Gender:   Still don't know! We have 12 days until my appointment! Let's hope lil one decides to cooperate so we can tell!! 
Labor Signs:   NO! And I hope I don't have any for a long time! 
Symptoms:   Sleeping has become more difficult but that's mostly it! Got most of my energy back! No more mid-day naps! 
Belly Button in or out?   In
Wedding rings on or off?   On
Happy or Moody most of the time:   Mostly happy! I only get moody when I am really tired so I nap & I'm better! 
Looking forward to:  My next ultrasound & finding out if we're having a lil boy or a lil girl! 

We got a bunch of stuff this last week for the baby! We couldn't help it - the BX had crazy Labor Day sales & lots of baby stuff was around 50% off! We bought an awesome carseat & a super cool video baby monitor! We also ordered our crib! The selection here for American style stuff is very slim so we had to order it from online & have it sent to the store here for us to pick up! But its super cute & I can't wait for it to come so we can put it together! Not to mention I got the package from my mom with my Bella Bands in it & adorable onesies from my sister!! 

Our new car seat! 

Sweet video monitors 

Onesies from my awesome lil sister! 

I scheduled my appointment for my next ultrasound & couldn't be more excited! Only downfall is Greg will be in the field, which, I know, is only 45 minutes or so away. Hopefully he will be able to break away for a few hours to meet me for the appointment! I'd hate for him to miss the second of only 2 ultrasounds I get! I will probably reschedule if he can't be there, but that means waiting longer to find out the sex! Decisions, decisions! ha 

It started to cool down the other day & I got pretty excited! I cannot wait for fall & everything that comes with it - leaves changing color, cool weather, fall wardrobe, holidays & delicious food consisting of tons of pumpkin everywhere! Just wish we had Starbucks here so I could get a Pumpkin Spice Latte! Let's pray for this country's sake that the cafe on base has pumpkin flavoring or I WILL go crazy!! 

But for now, I will just cuddle up on the couch with my blanket, husband & puppies & watch a movie! I love days off & getting to spend plenty of time with my little family! 



Gaia &Dexter