Week 22

Major Developments: Baby looks like miniature newborn, lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, eyes are formed but irises lack color

Size of baby: Length of spaghetti squash

Week 22 over, and yes, my pants are unbuttoned!! Whew, I'm getting bigger. I have been gaining 4 lbs a week out of nowhere. My bump is in full effect and I love it!

This week we had another ultrasound to see if they could get the baby's face. They have to rule out cleft lip. Every time I hear that tiny little heartbeat, I feel so relieved. Its really weird that I am still freaked out about something happening. Who knows. They surprised us with 4D pictures of our little baby. It was amazing! I said in the beginning that I didn't know if I wanted a 4D ultrasound because I wanted the face to be a surprise. It actually kind of scared me when I first saw me. I was just shocked to see what was on the screen.

Baby Silva looks like a real baby. I don't really recognize anything yet. It seems like he looks just like a "baby" to me. The only thing that I recognize in one picture is Eric's nose. The nose looks different in every shot though. What a cutie anyway. He loves to keep his hand up by his head. It was so surreal to see him playing with his ear in 4D rather than regular ultrasound. You could see him flexing each finger and flicking his ear. So crazy!!! Baby is healthy and is growing and growing.

My Aunt Stephanie and her husband came into town this weekend. I didn't get much nursery stuff done. The rocker came in the mail though! Eric set it up and it is wonderful! I love it so much. I have rearranged the room a couple times because I'm not quite sure on the furniture placement. I can't wait until it is all finished!! I shopped around a little for hardware for the dresser. I can't decide on that yet either.

Sunday we had a delicious delicious BBQ. Kabobs and strawberry salad. Mmmmmm baby loved it!!!! We also had a small dance party. Baby Silva must have wondered what the heck was going on out there. Thriller and all.

Monday I got my first case of swollen ankles. I was putting on my gym shoes after work and noticed fat rolls around my ankles. Once I put my gym shoes on it was aparant that my ankles were swollen. It was hilarious to me!!! I was hoping that the walking around the gym would help but it didn't. At home I took what Eric calls a "photoshoot with my ankles" funny guy. I just felt like I had stump leg. My ankle was dangling over my sock.

 Pictures did not capture the full extent. I'm sure it wasn't really even that bad, but it was just humorous to me. I felt like people of Walmart!!

For the grand finale of week 22, I saw the baby move under my shirt. The baby has been moving a lot more lately. Not a ton, but not non-existent. I was sitting at work feeling the baby kick when all of a sudden I started to see little pokes under my shirt. I didn't think I'd actually see the kicks so early. It was really cool. Later at home, I started watching my bare belly for kicks. I saw tiny little bumps coming from my belly. That baby sure likes to play tag. He also likes to punch my bladder. I can't imagine how that will feel when I'm further along....That will be interesting!

Pregnancy is bliss :)

Week 21

Major Developments: Movements are turning in to full fledged kicks, eyebrow & lips are now present.

Size of baby: Length of Carrot

Week 21.... check. I have been super tired this past week. I read on my pregnancy app that baby grew quite a bit in length. No wonder I'm so tired!I feel like my belly has grown a lot too. Towards the end of week 21 I felt like my belly was growing a mile a minute! I finally have reached a milestone in my weight history. I have entered the 120's. I gained over 3 pounds from week 20 to 21. I have been averaging a pound or less a week in the past month so 3 lbs is a lot for me, even though it sounds like nothing. Its crazy. The only place I'm gaining weight is in my belly. My pants still fit in the leg. According to my records I have gained 12 lbs. So all 12 lbs are right at my belly. My belly button is starting to pop out a little. I think pretty soon here I'm going to have an outie! I didn't think I'd have one of those in all of my life. Usually, my belly button is  so deep you could lose the remote controller in it! It is fascinating to watch my belly expand!!!!

This weekend was a long weekend away from work. Thank goodness. I really needed it. This month at work has been a rough one. I thought year end financials were rough. Turns out the first month is worse. Eric has been having some stomach problems. So we spent Saturday just chilling. He thinks he's got gallstones. :( Poor guy. He's finding out tomorrow what the deal is. Hopefully nothing too serious. Saturday I got a lot of sewing done. I finished my dust ruffle on my crib. I would have finished a lot earlier but I made them too long so I had to re-hem. Here is a crappy picture taken from my phone. When I finish the rest I'll take a nice picture:

I'm getting so addicted to my sewing machine. I've got a whole list of projects I want to get done. I have found so many cool things that I can sew for the nursery. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eric doesn't see much of me when I get in the mood to work on my sewing projects. He's going to see smoke coming off of my machine soon.

Sunday Eric felt slightly better. He refinished the dresser for me so we now have a partially finished changing table! It went from green to white and looks great. I don't have a picture yet because I don't have hardware on it yet. I'm going to go shopping for some really funky knobs for it. So fun. 

Monday I attempted to go maternity clothes shopping with my mom. Target has NOTHING! I tried on some pants and looked ridiculous. They are huge in the thigh and butt. I apparently have neither. :( The maternity section at Target is comprised of about 5 racks of huge shirts and 1 rack of ugly pants. Poo. We tried Old Navy. First, I must say, all you non-pregnant women need to get in there because they have so much cute stuff. The maternity section there is just as bad, if not worse than target. I found some maternity pants that actually came in a size. They fit wonderful on the waist but are flares, so I might take them in. Flares on a pregnant chic to me don't make much sense.... I prefer skinny jeans/pants anyways. I spoiled myself and bought some other shirts that I can wear now and when I've popped my baby out. This something I never do so I felt both excited and guilt. Mostly guilt though....Ugh. I have a problem.

Monday I also got a KILLER deal on curtians for the nursery at Target. We put one set up on the closet yesterday...so again I don't have a picture. I'm slacking major. I promise to post more. They are sheer white with black circles. Really cute. I'm so pleased.

Monday night I went to bed in such a fabulous mood due to my bargain shopping. I woke up the next morning full of spunk and still in a fabulous mood. I think that baby Silva is going to be a happy baby. I think he has his own little supply of sunshine and shares with me occasionally. Planning the nursery has got to be one of the most exciting things I've done. It has been so much more fun that even planning a wedding. That was just stressful. Preparing for this baby has made me so happy. I just love being pregnant. 

Oh yes, and I can't forget. We started a registry at Target. I have been doing all kinds of research on products, since I am clueless on baby stuff. I am learning so much! The registry isn't complete but I hope to have it finished sometime soon. I have a lot more things to research. Like a breast pump....I have absolutely no clue which one is best. Ugh..... who knows!!

We are having major difficulties in picking a name. I swear I get asked a million times a day if we have a name picked out. NO! hehe. I want to pick a name with both love but we just can't reach that agreement yet. Who knew naming a baby would be so difficult?! I can't beleive it. We had a girl name all picked out but the boy name is so much more difficult. I am hoping to have one selected soon. You may be seeing a survey sent out on names.... :)

We have an ultrasound scheduled for Friday so I am really excited to see my little creature. I will post our findings. Hopefully he shows his face this time. Wish us luck!

Week 20

Major Developments: Baby is swallowing and making the gooey substance that will be in its first diaper. (Gross!!) Waxy substance is covering skin to prevent it from becoming chapped and scratched.

Size of baby: Lenght of banana (6.5 inches)

 

Finally the 5th month has arrived. I have so much to report on!!

I was not quite 20 weeks in the above picture but you get the idea. I'm getting my lovely baby bump finally!! I've been gaining about a pound a week, which is good.

I had my ultrasound done on Friday. Its official, we are having a BOY, which is the reason for the change of my blog colors. Green for a little boy. I invited my mom and grandma to the ultrasound. I did not like my ultrasound tech at all. She was all about business, which was counting those little fingers. The ultrasound lasted about 7 minutes. My last ultrasound was about 25 minutes. She confirmed it was a boy but didn't take a picture of it. I did get a picture of those cute little feet again and the fingers:

I have to go in again in 2 weeks because we weren't able to get a clear shot of the face. I'm really disappointed because the lady didn't take a picture of what we would see of the face. In the ultrasound, we could see the outline of an eye. It was so cute, we could even see it moving its little mouth around. The cutest thing in the world was the little baby playing with its ear. He had his hand up near his head in a little fist. He'd flatten his hand out and then tighten it up like he was grasping his ears. SO FREAKING CUTE. It just melted my little heart to see him doing something so human like. I'm excited we get to go in again in another 2 weeks but I am going to get too used to this seeing the baby so often thing. I'm being spoiled!

Friday, Grandma and I went shopping for fabric. It was harder than I thought now that I could actually buy something. I wanted a grey, yellow, and white theme so I bought fabrics to go along with that scheme. I had a hard time choosing between that and blues. I had to go to 3 stores to get what I needed but I finally have everything but the pads for the bumpers, which I need to order online.

 The yellow fabric is for the bumpers and the black and yellow is for the dust ruffle. I have almost finished up the dust ruffle and can't wait to start sewing the bumpers! So much fun!!!

The crib also came in on Friday! It is perfect. Eric and our friend Devon put it together on Sunday. Its white and matches our molding so well. I'm really pleased with the crib we picked out. Its really creepy to walk to the bathroom past the baby's room and see a crib in there. I can't believe that I have a crib in my house. Isn't that weird. Soon I'll even have a baby in the house.... strange. Pregnancy is so much fun!!

Tuesday, Valentines Day, Eric and I went out on a date. We had an early dinner to beat the crowds and then went to the movies. On Monday I had a chocolate brownie and felt 3 hard thumps in my belly. I thought that maybe I was feeling the baby but I wasn't sure. After our Valentine's dinner, I had a piece of chocolate and I felt one hard thump. I googled it and read that sometimes babies kick after chocolate. So I decided to take a snickers bar to the movies. I ate only half the bar and about 20 min later that baby went to town! He was kicking up a storm. It was a crazy feeling - little tiny hands and feet bumping my belly the whole movie. The coolest part about it was that Eric was there to feel it too. We just couldn't believe it. The kicks are about 2 inches from my ribs so that crazy little guy will be kicking my ribs out soon. Since this time, I have felt a few kicks here and there but nothing like during the movie. We saw The Chronicle where the teens get super powers so I joked that our baby was pretending to have super powers. What a cutie!

This week I have had a cold. I have been calling it the mom cold. There is a hilarious video on youtube about the "Man Flu", which is so true. Men just fall apart when they are sick. I think I have a similar condition but it is the preggo cold. I NEVER get sick. I have been sick twice since being pregnant. I think my body was fighting this cold off pretty hard. Eric had it last week along with my mom and dad. Everyone at work has had it. It took me quite a while to pick it up. The worst part of being pregnant and sick is the limitation on meds you can take. I had to breakdown and call the doc to see what I could take because I was miserable. To top it off, I am having a problem with my braces that is pretty painful. Ugh!!!

This weekend I hope to get the dresser finished so we can come up with furniture placement. I also hope to get most of the sewing done as well. I'm so happy to finally be working on things! Now, if we could only decide on a name.... That's the hard part.

Ta ta!

Week 19

Major Developments: Sensory development is progressing, baby can hear my voice, arms and legs are the right proportion to the body, and kidneys are producing urine.

Size of baby: Heirloom Tomato. About 8.5 Oz and 6 inches long

Week 19 over!!! The 5th month is finally here. Week 19 was so much fun. As I mentioned earlier, I did some wallpapering over the weekend. We are finally going to start doing more baby stuff each weekend. Next weekend, I'd like to start on re-finishing the dresser for the nursery. Well, I'll "supervise" and Eric will work, since I can't be around the chemicals. Dang it!!

Friday night, I had a strange pain in my stomach near my diaphragm. I didn't have much of an appetite, and felt generally pretty yucky. The next morning, I woke up and I swear that my bump grew over night! It is finally starting to take shape. Since I blog a week behind, the pictures above were taken before my growth spurt. My week 20 pictures will be fun to share because I'm really getting bigger!! It is soooo fun. I love my growing bump. I feel like I got ripped off because it took nearly 5 months to start showing. I feel like my pregnancy is flying by! I wish I could slow time down because it is so fun to experience. I feel like the baby will be here before I can even blink my eyes. I just want to savor it all before its over!!

I have been feeling fine other than this new stretching sensation in my belly. I was telling my sister Megan that I feel like my insides are being stretched out on a medieval torture weapons. Its a really strange feeling. I just imagine my baby stretched completely out, using my ribs as a kick start to try and squeeze in some extra room. I think he's trying to do me a favor by trying to make me a little taller. Funny guy. Every time I feel this, I think that my belly is going to get bigger suddenly like it did on Friday. hehe. We'll see.

Eric has been a real cutie. Since we learned that the baby can hear now, he has been talking to my belly each day. He's hoping when the baby arrives, it will recognize his voice. I think its so cool how that can really happen! I was joking with my Mom and sister Bre that the baby isn't going to recognize my voice because I am always using an accent with them. My family is really weird and we always talk in accent. My baby is going to be so confused!!!

Something Eric and I are really struggling with is naming our little creature. Since we are pretty sure its a boy, we have just been focusing on the boy names. Plus, we've had a girl name picked out for years. Bijou Mabel Silva. The boy names are much harder to commit to. We have made a list of names and tried to narrow them down. We just can't agree on our top choices. All I know for sure is I want the middle name to be Yorke for a boy. We want our baby to have a unique name so that they aren't the same as all of the other kids in its class. We also don't want it to be so weird that the kid hates it or people can't pronounce it. Ugh.... this naming business is hard work. Its a decision that lasts forever!!!! I'll keep you updated on our decision.

This weekend, my Frandsen Grandparents will be in town. This is just in time for my 20 week ultrasound. This ultrasound will (hopefully) let us know what the baby is. I have invited my Grandparents and Mom to the Ultrasound. I wanted to invite my Grandma to the ultrasound because she hasn't been able to be involved in some of the other pregnancy related stuff since she is so far away. This is going to be a full house! I can't wait to see how much my little creature has grown in 2 weeks. Hopefully, soon after the ultrasound we will have a name so I can stop calling it creature, creaton, and it. Wish us luck!!

Wallpaper in the Nursery

This weekend was absolutely fabulous! I finally got to do some shopping! We had to buy a new microwave for our kitchen just in time for baby. The stupid thing broke months ago and I have been protesting buying a new one.Our house is brand new and the dang thing crapped out on us!! Ugh. The nerve. Eric finally convinced me that we will need it for warming up milk for our baby. I addition to the microwave, I bought 2 of the cutest curtain rods on the planet! I love love love Allen + Roth products from Lowes. They are just the best.

Rod Ends:

 

Curtain Tie Backs:

 

I also finally decided on the wallpaper that was going to go up. It took me forever but I finally chose the first one I liked. It is called Spanish Tile, also by Allen + Roth. It kind of reminds me of a Moroccan style rug or something. I love it. It is grey, which goes along with my grey and yellow theme for the nursery.

My mom and Bre came over to help me put up the wallpaper yesterday. I was so happy to have their help because I had never put up wallpaper. Now that my mom taught me, I feel like I could wallpaper anything. It was sooooo much fun! I get kind of OCD about things so it was right down my ally. Lining up all the seams and finding the pattern. How fun. I seriously want to re-do my whole house!! I have opened pandora's box. Who knew wallpaper could be so cute! Here are some before and after pictures of our weekend project!!! Ignore my messy closet! We are still trying to find homes for all the crap we stored in there. We are taking the doors off and putting up curtains instead. That will be part of my next adventure. Happy viewing!

Week 18

Size of Baby: Length of Bell Pepper (5.5 inches & 7 Oz)

Major Developments: Flexing arms and legs, blood vessels are visible through skin, ears are in final position.

So I was really bad!! I forgot to post about my 18th week last night. I was super tired. That has been the theme of this week - lethargic!

So over the weekend I finally came down from my high from our ultrasound. I literally did not get anything done at work the day of the ultrasound. Everyone wanted to know about the little Silva baby. I'm telling you, this little creature is going to be in demand when it is born. I'm going to have to stand in line to hold it!

I was supposed to go shopping this past weekend but didn't because we weren't sure about the sex of the baby. I did go looking around a little though. I've been watching a lot of decorating shows on HGTV. They have been doing a lot of rooms with funky and exciting wall paper. I have always thought that wall paper was so 90's and earlier but, man, they are coming out with some super cute styles! We found the cutest wall paper at Lowes! This one is one of my favorites:

I really wanted a yellow and grey theme so this fits in perfectly. The only thing that doesn't work is the fabric I had looked at before. This paper will go under the chair rail that is already up in the nursery. The top section is already gold. I may have to re-think my fabric choices if I decide to go with this paper. I'm going to go in again and check it out. This upcoming weekend is going to be a shopping weekend for me! I cannot wait! I found out my Grandma Frandsen will be in town on the 10th which is when my ultrasound is coincidentally. We are going to go shopping then too. Fun fun fun!

This weekend we did some organization in the house. We moved the desk out of the nursery and into our bedroom. This meant I finally got to set up my beautiful sewing machine! I cannot wait to put some fabric through it! We have the room pretty much cleared out now. We were using it for all of our luggage and holiday decorations. We are having to get real creative on where to put these things now that the baby is in the picture. We are going to outgrow this tiny house in no time! The good news is we have made some progress. We only have 4.5 months to go!!

I'm finally starting to gain a pound or two here. I love having my baby bump and can't wait for it to get bigger but I just don't want stretch mark central after our little creature arrives. Impossible right? I would still like to look good in a swim suit, which may be asking for too much. I think my mind set is expect the worst and be happy with what you have. I saw an article on babycenter.com about what bellies look like after delivery. Man, that really frightened me! Some people were still thin but they had a lot of extra skin. You can't really get rid of skin! I'm really terrified for how I am going to look afterwards. I guess I just have to realize that every pregnancy is different. It doesn't help that in the same day I read that article, I watched a show on TLC about a lady who was 600 LBS and her 7 year process. It was an amazing story but I just had these visions of having so much extra belly skin that I trip on it! Maybe I'm over reacting! This week I went in and bought some coco butter. I know this won't prevent the stretch marks but we can all dream right? I'm sure once I get there it will all be worth it, I'm just a freak.