Weeks 20 and 21

Weeks 20 and 21

How far along?: 22 weeks today
Total weight gain: 11 pounds as of this morning, which marked the start of week 22
How big is baby?: Week 20: banana; Week 21: carrot; Week 22: Papaya
Sleep?: Yes, but I have a cold so waking up with a sore throat and congestion isn't fun
Best moments?: Finding out we have a healthy baby boy on the way
Movement?: Yes and I love it. I'm getting used to when he's most active (at night) although it still catches me off guard when I'm doing something else (e.g. working at my desk) and feel tapping and punching coming from inside my belly
Other symptoms: Still the occasional heartburn but the best symptom was the giggles I had around the holidays. The smallest thing would set me off into crazy nonstop laughter. For example, on Christmas Eve I was cutting cake for my grandfather - not very well I might add - to take home and he thought I was giving him the other piece. I guess you just had to be there but I was nearly on the floor laughing. Then during Christmas Day dinner I had two incidents of crazy giggles: 1) when my dad was making a big deal of the rosemary bread he got from the bakery, and apparently I was too busy eating that could have cared less. People thought it was funny and when they re-enacted it I couldn't stop laughing. Then we were talking about this one recipe with breadcrumbs and just the word sent my mashed potatoes flying out of my mouth and me keeling over with laughter.
Food cravings?: Honestly, no cravings to report. Just trying to eat healthy. I think Rob plays the cravings card more than I do.
Food aversions: Still none.
Labor signs?: None
Belly button in or out?: Starting to flatten out a bit but still technically an innie
What I miss: Being able to carry heavier stuff. I hate having to rely on Rob to carry the heavier things for me since I used to be able to do most of them. Yesterday in my cleaning frenzy I did move the living room coffee table and rug (I'm type A, so it had to be properly centered) all by myself. I moved it slowly but it probably wasn't the best thing for me to do.
Milestones: Since this recap fell around the holidays I have a lot of special moments:

• Telling more people that we're pregnant and letting them know we're having a little boy
• The gender reveal cake cutting on Christmas Even.. the pictures are priceless!
• Identifying what baby decor we'd like to use for the room (it's a puppy sports theme and luckily something we both agree on!)
• Cleaning out the closets and making room for baby. I forgot how much crap we have tucked away
• Narrowing down the furniture to a few sets I really like
• Getting the Coach diaper bag that I wanted for Christmas.. fun how it's the little things in life now haha
• Finally starting to show, although some days I just feel fat

2013 Resolutions

2013 is shaping up to be a big year, with several weddings, celebratory events and most importantly to Rob and I, our first baby! This year, I've narrowed my resolutions to three key initiatives:

1. Be the best wife and mother I can be: I know I nag Rob a lot about stuff to do around the house, and my type A-personality drives him nuts, so this year I will try to be more patient. I'll also try to be the best mother I can be to our baby and enjoy each minute with our little bundle.
2. My health: I'd like to keep up with eating healthy and exercising. I know winter is tough to walk outside when it's freezing out, but doing little things like yoga or making my way up to the gym will go a long way.
3. Keep plugging away two of my standard resolutions: curse less and don't text while driving

2012 Resolution Recap

Below are last year's resolutions and how I did with those goals. Looking back I'm happy with how I did, although there are certain things that no matter how much I try they're hard to stick to.

• Be more patient - I tried and feel I accomplished this by being more patient with family drama. I did not succeed in being more patient while driving
• Curse less - ehh.. I try but never do too well with this
• Exercise (aim for at least three times per week) - I feel like I did pretty good, and had a really good running routine for most of the year
• Try one new recipe per month - If you count how I tried multiple new recipes per month, I'm sure that would add up to more than 12. I will admit, I slacked off a bit mid-year
• Have better posture - Made a concious effort but could always improve
• Don't text while driving - I tried but could always be better at this. At least in the first part of the year I only really used my phone while stuck in traffic (and if you know NJ, that's pretty often!)
• Don't rest my hands on my face - Made a concious effort
• Be better about communicating with family members - Was good with this for the first part of the year
• Travel to someplace new - check! Went to London and Paris
• Start a family - check!! Rob and I started our family and our little baby will be here this spring! :)

Buster's 8th Birthday!

I'm really behind on this post, but back on October 29th my little Buster Bear celebrated his 8th Birthday! Luckily we had power when we sang happy birthday to him but lost it shortly after for a full week due to Hurricane Sandy. After that we went our our trip to London and Paris, came home and were in the full swing of the holidays. That's why this is going up nearly two months later.

Below are a few photos of Buster's birthday cupcake celebration. I found this great doggie bakery in Boonton called the Bubba Rose Biscuit Company that had really awesome homemade treats - everything from cupcakes to real cakes and even cannolis and a variety of cookies. He absolutely loved this cupcake (I think it was made of carrots and peanut butter with the carob topping). So cute!

Poor Buster has had bad weather on his birthday for the last two years. Two years ago it was a freak snowstorm and resulted in us losing power for 4 days. This year it was Hurricane Sandy that left us cold and without power again (well, we had a small generator to keep the fridges going and some lights) for a week. Hopefully next year our little baby will be good luck and Buster will have good weather, power for his birthday, and a little brother to share the treats with!

New Recipes: Honey Balls and Pignoli Cookies

As part of my 2012 new years resolution to try new recipes, I was able to tackle two for Christmas by making pignoli cookies and honey balls (Struffoli). I thought they came out pretty good but next time would recommend making them the day of, or at least coat the honey day of, so they keep that pretty shine.

  

20 Week Sonogram. It's a... ?

We went to the doctors on Christmas Eve Day and received the best present of all: getting to see our baby and hear reports that he's growing healthy and strong. At 20 weeks, our little miracle weighs 13 ounces and had a heart rate of 146. The examined the heart, brain, fingers, feet, kidneys, distance from the eyes, placenta, blood flow and much more, and thank God all looks good so far.

We also found out we're having a BOY! Here's a picture of our little guy :)

Things NOT to say to a Pregnant Woman

Although I'm starting to slow slightly, I'm amazed at what two people have said so far - one of whom was my darling husband: 

• "How's it feel to be getting fat?" 
• "You're getting huge" - Rob isn't very tactful with pregnant people since he recently told one of our friends who is pregnant "You're ginormous!" This poor girl also had people asking her if she was having twins when she was clearly only having one baby. Some people are so rude!!
• "You're so cute pregnant.. like a little elf!" - I'm guessing the connection is the height because Im' short and have been wearing flats lately, but really? You a) know elves and b) have seen them pregnant?

Didn't your moms ever tell you if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all? Granted pregnant women want to maintain a healthy weight gain but as long as we're having a healthy, normal baby who cares if you look like an elf or having twins?