Cravings...

I could eat these all day every day right now. Maybe it has something to do with the warm weather that makes it feel like full blown summer outside. I was at my parent's house when it hit me.
"Mom, I want a popsicle." My mom said, "I don't have any popsicles." My response: "What is your problem, you always have popsicles when it's hot outside." <---That is a very true statement by the way. She usually has a stash of them somewhere. I was so disappointed it wasn't even funny. I even pouted for a little while. I went popsicle-less but I eventually got over it.


I thought it was a fleeting craving when it hit me again while Chef and I were out and about.  Being the good husband he is he took me straight to the grocery store to get what I wanted. As I was perusing through the frozen food aisle, I quickly realized that there exists something I wanted ten times more than popsicles: ITALIAN ICE.  Chef bought me a box and I limited myself to 2 a day.

...and time goes on

I just browsed through my blog and realized the last picture I posted of myself was when I was 16 weeks along. Here I am at 20 and 24 weeks. Believe it or not, some people still couldn't tell I was with child.

20 Weeks

  I promise to try and get better quality pictures. My 24 week picture was taken with Chef's fancy camera and the 20 week pic was taken with my sister's cell phone. I usually have my iPad handy so I usually just snap pics on that. Those pictures aren't the best but I post them anyway. I'll try to snag Chef's camera or charge my own point and shoot digital camera for finished nursery pics and things of that nature.

24 weeks with the puppies - Check out my rack! OWWWW!

Project Nursery - Day 2

Assembling baby furniture:
I don't know if I mentioned it or not but Chef and I have had the crib, changing table and glider for quite some time. The glider was boxed up in the nursery and happened to be what I rested everything on when I was doing stuff in there. The crib and changing table were sitting in the garage in their boxes for MONTHS. Since the crib was too heavy for me to drag from the garage to the nursery I picked up the changing table and decided that I would start with that to begin putting stuff together. The crib and changing table we have match and if I am not mistaken it is the Graco 4 in 1 convertible crib, in espresso. It is a really pretty dark wood and looks really nice against our light carpet and "applesauce cake" walls. It took me 30 min to put the changing table together and here is the finished product.

We plan on buying those canvas storage bins in the green color that matches the baby bedding set we got to put on those shelves underneath the changing table. Since we plan on cloth diapering, all of her cloth diapers, wipes, and bath stuff can go in the baskets.

We still have the chalkboard wall to paint so nothing is in it's right place. The changing table will go on the chalkboard wall.

P.S. Can anyone tell me why the changing table pad has a strap that buckles the pad down in the middle of the table?

Project Nursery - Day 1

 I was supposed to post this blog on Feb 9. I guess I got sidetracked. Here are the Applesauce Cake walls in progress. That would explain why is looks streaky. It's not dry. Ten extra points if you can see my sister playing on her cellphone while we were on a painting break.

I did have to come back the next day and do a second coat. My sister is so conservative when she paints.

Stroller?

Check this out! Anyone that wants to buy it for me feel free. It's almost $900 and completely impractical.

Prenatal Appointment #5 - 25 weeks

At this visit Chef and I watched a video on the signs of preterm labor and what to do if I am experiencing these symptoms. The issue here is that if I were to go into labor early, I would have to transfer all of my care to a hospital. Birth centers are for full term, healthy babies and pregnancies only. The video was very informative and gave me some insight into what pains and feelings are normal and what I should call the birth center for.
The most awesome part of this visit was that I got to see the midwife that did my 12 week appointment. She walked in the room and was sporting quite a large baby bump. I told her that that wasn't there the last time I saw her. She said it was but it just wasn't noticeable. She was 36 weeks along when I came in, so the last time I saw her she was a solid 6 months and not showing. She looked great and I told her that. She mentioned that at my next visit I would have to take the glucose screening test to determine if I have gestational diabetes. She mentioned that that appointment would be a little longer since I have to wait an hour to see if my body clears out the sugar dose they give me. We also discussed birthing classes of which Chef and I decided to take "Birthing from Within". I'm pretty pumped about it.  I didn't have any other questions for her, so the quest was now set to finding baby's heartbeat on the doppler.  She measured how far my uterus has grown into my abdomen, said I'm right on track and then goo'd up my belly. She put the probe on but all you could hear was my ridiculously slow heartbeat. She kept moving the probe around and she would find baby's heartbeat for a second and then it would go away. Meanwhile, I'm cracking up because the baby is moving around like MAD. She must really hate probes. The midwife even commented that she could feel her moving around but she won't keep still long enough to catch the heartbeat. She definitely runs from probes. I don't know what it is but it's hilarious to me. Somewhere in the middle of her kicking the probe and running from it we got a strong heartbeat at 145 beats per min. We set up our next appointment  for when I'll be 29 weeks but I'll probably be going to that one alone due to Chef's new schedule and me having to sit and wait an hour.

Exercising in Pregnancy

People look at me and assume I've gained a lot of weight. Um, not really. I've still only gained 10lbs and I'm at the end of my second trimester. My body seemed to have re-distribute the weight that I have to make it useful. I'm not mad. My mother told me yesterday that her biggest fear for me was that after I had spent all that time losing weight that I would gain it back and get in a rut. She said she is very pleased that I am still exercising and seem to be gaining only what the baby needs.
Before I found out I was pregnant, I was teaching three Zumba classes a week and taking three additional classes. Because I began to feel like CRAPOLA in those first couple of months I had to cut down on taking my other classes but I still taught three a week. Since then I had to drop the class I taught at the high school but I've been able to pick up teaching an Aqua Zumba class right after my regular Zumba class on Sundays and I've been co-teaching an Aqua Zumba class on Monday evenings and I'm starting to take two of my three Zumba classes again. What's that? I'm back up to six classes a week. Teaching Aqua Zumba is like taking pilates in a sauna. It's rough but so rewarding.