Half Way There!

PROUD PARENTS of a baby GIRL!!!!!

The Ultrasound was absolutely amazing. Literally took my breath away, and brought tears to our eyes. I will never forget seeing our baby for the first time. She moved around so much and was very active. Now I know why I can feel her so much! She is a busy busy baby!!

Ava at 19 weeks

Well I'm officially half way through the pregnancy. Today I am 20 weeks and 5 days along. I feel pretty great! I went to the gym and walked tonight for almost 3 miles. Came home and made some delicious pesto pasta with brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil and baked in the oven. And, I am making banana bread now because its either toss the bananas or do something with them time! Speaking of, Ava is about the length of a banana. My littler nanner!!!

Work out Mamma!

Next week GC and I are going on our ''Babymoom" to San Diego! I can't wait to get out of Salem and into some **Hopfeully** warm weather! So far it looks like it will be around 70 degrees when we are there, which is just great. Warmer would be good too but I'll take what I can get.

This past weekend I started working on Ava's baby mobil for her future lavender painted room! I am not done with it yet, as I ran out of materials... but will finish it soon I hope. I found the design for it on Pintrest. Simple and pretty!

I am getting so excited thinking about baby showers and getting Ava's room together! There is definitely a lot ahead of us and we are just beginning. GC and I are taking out parenting classes at the hospital in March. We get to tour the facilities, learn about breathing, labor, and how to get through it alive! Should be interesting, but also fun I hope!

My tummy is getting bigger slowly. Yesterday I felt her move around so much! And at one point I noticed the right side of my stomach was sticking out farther than the left side... so I am guessing Ava was pushing her butt out or something! It was the strangest thing! But also neat to know she is dancing around inside my tummy letting me know she is there.

These are the things that currently make me feel good: Prenatal Yoga, Orange Juice, Massages, Wearing clothes that actually fit, and My husband and dog~!!! The part about the clothes... Seriously, even my underwear feels too small! I've gained 13 lbs so far and I plan to gain about another 13 by the end of this! (At least my Dr. said I probably will). So, that is not TOO bad I guess. I mean, I could gain a lot more too so who knows. They say average weight gain in 25-30 lbs. if you are average to begin with. So if I gain more I won't feel too guilty. The weight gain at the beginning was so hard to deal with and definitely a struggle for me emotionally. But, as the pregnancy has gone on, I have let it slide more. I realize its normal and natural and I'm enjoying not being on a diet. There will be plenty of those in my future :)

Feeling the baby move!!

Something really exciting happened this weekend: I felt the baby move! If I wasn't paying attention to it, I may have not noticed but I felt it a couple times so far. It wasn't the butterfly feeling so many people have told me about, but it was more like little bubbles in my tummy. Online they describe it as gas bubbles but it is definitely different than normal tummy bubbles, it is a tiny little 'ting ting' that I felt up front in my stomach. It was awesome! I have been waiting for this to happen for a couple weeks! Yay!

On Tuesday we have our ultrasound appointment and I can't wait to find out if I'm having a boy or a girl. I have decoration ideas for both and I'm anxious to get started on that! I love a good project and the ideas I have are pretty simple, but some of it is DIY... fun!

I've been feeling pretty great lately! When I got the flu that was a major set back but since then things have been smooth. My tummy is a lot bigger now and so are my boobs! WOWZA!
Over the last couple weeks I've been eating more fruit and healthier meals (at least consciously trying to) and I've noticed I am not as bloated and feel better than before. I also haven't gained much more weight in the last month so that's great! I gained so much at first my Dr. told me I may be sad at the end of my pregnancy if I kept up what I was doing in terms of diet :( I was eating a 80% carb diet... Whoops! Love my bagels and french fries!