17 Weeks

How far along? 17 weeks!

Total weight gain: 9 Lbs... per Doc on Monday

Maternity clothes? finally did the big closet switch so I'm no longer digging through bins in my spare bedroom each morning hoping to find something that doesn't easily wrinkle. 

Stretch marks? Nope... fingers still crossed on this one but I really think that it is only a matter of time with baby #3

Sleep: Still having a hard time falling asleep after my 3 a.m. tinkle break. Also, Hunter man is vetoing afternoon naps right now so no rest for this mommy after work. 

Best moments this week: Finding out that we are having a BABY BOY! 

Seeing my two other best friends that are also preggers with little boys!!!! AND Emma had her soccer team over for some fun Pumpkin carving.

Miss anything? Not right now!

Movement: little movements... nothing that Matt can feel yet

Food cravings: FRUIT and cinnamon toast crunch

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope.

Gender: BOY! Now to think of names.

Labor signs: No.

Symptoms: My boobs have also gotten larger again and I'm back into my maternity bras... blah...    

Belly button in or out? In!

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy but verrrrry emotional!

Looking forward to: Figuring out the baby room. Think we are going in a whole different direction from what I had envisioned. 

Here I was with Hunter at 17 Weeks.

Hunter is 13 Months

It is so hard to believe that this little man is already 13 months old!

Such a big boy!

At 13 Months Hunter is running around like crazy! In fact someone had a VERY hard time standing still in front of his growth chart...

Thankfully daddy came home to assist and to give tickles... Hunter currently says DaDa, Dog & yeah... No mama yet :-(

He is still an amazing eater! When he isn't feeling well he will get a little picky but for the most part he is adventurous in the food department and LOVES spicy food. he two favorites are still Bananas and waffles though!

If you give the guy a waffle he will try to stuff the ENTIRE thing in his mouth at once!

He is trying to go up the stairs all the time...

but is too afraid to crawl backwards down them... he just stands at the top screaming!

He is a SUPER happy baby though and he is going to make a GREAT big brother! I'll be back tomorrow to share some of his favorite things at 13 months!

Until that time here are a few additional photos of Hunter on the move!

Punk rock baby on board...

So of course now that we know that little man will be a boy I'm in full nursery planning mode. The plan is going to be for the new little guy to have his own nursery for the first year and once hit his first birthday (as long as he sleeps through the night) we will move him into his big brother Hunter's room and I will just reconfigure that space a bit.

So... the spare bedroom that I completed in May will temporarily become a NURSERY!

I had originally thought that we would go with an aviation themed room and had been planning something like the below in my mind for a while now...

But when I brought it up to Matt yesterday... he informed me that he was already thinking about a guitar themed nursery and in fact was already researching guitars to purchase for the wall... I LOVE MY HUSBAND! And at this point who am I to argue about themes... I just love that he has given the issue thought and that he wants to be a part of it all.

So I'm embracing it and looking towards a room fit for a sophisticated punk rock baby... I want to use a lot of the items that we alreasd have in place... as the room will go back to being our spare bedroom... here are my thoughts...

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Matt and I are excited to share that we will be welcoming our second Little Man in late March!

Direct quote from the ultrasound tech... That is really big for a 16 week old baby... No question here...

We did an early 16 week ultrasound at Bella Baby 4D in Fairfax.

I have to admit that the 4D ultrasound part was bit creepy... I guess it is because the baby is still little and does not have a lot of body fat yet so the little guy looks like a skeleton.

16 Weeks

How far along? 16 weeks!

Total weight gain: 12lbs

Maternity clothes? So I've decided that it was too soon in between pregnancies because I still HATE all of my maternity clothes! Towards the end of the pregnancy you begin to hate all of the clothes that you own and well... I'm just not over that! I've been trying to mix things up a little differently but still not really feeling it. Yesterday I took advantage of a flash sale at Old Navy and bought a pair of skinny jeans that I can wear with boot and a new striped shirt... With the promo I only spent $22 SCORE! I just needed a little something new! 

Stretch marks? not yet!!! 

Sleep: Doing a little better surprisingly! Still having a hard time falling back to sleep after getting up to tinkle. 

Best moment this week: Hunter had his first date! 

Miss anything? Nothing this week! 

Movement: Just a few little movements

Food cravings: gummy snacks! I LOVE GUSHERS! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Doing better!

Gender: We find out today! 

Labor signs: No.

Symptoms:CRAZY bad headaches! 

Belly button in or out? In!

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: A mixture of both :)  

Looking forward to: Finding out if we will have a boy or girl... TODAY! Matt and I will go for an ultrasound around 12:30 and the two of us will find out if the little bean is a boy or girl... This evening we will have my parents and a few other friends over for an informal chili dinner and we will share our good news with them first. These are folks that were a part of our wedding party and it is so CRAZY that TWO of them are also preggers with babies due in 2014! 

here I am preggers with Hunter at 16 Weeks

 

15 Weeks

SO... I'm been really bad about posting over the last week.SORRY. Below is a post that I wrote last week when I was 15 weeks but never published because I didn't talk a photo... Figure I should still share what was going on in this little belly of mine... I will post again tomorrow with my current 16 week update.. Photo and all!

How far along? 15 weeks!

Total weight gain: 11lbs

Maternity clothes? Currently unpacking my bins of Maternity clothes... they were at the bottom of all of our stuff in storage because I had originally anticipated some additional time between little ones... 

Stretch marks? No new ones.

Sleep: Still having crazy dreams and waking up multiple times a night... Hunter also has two more top teeth coming in and not sleeping well... 

Best moment this week: Felt the little bean kick... or punch. Also, seeing Emma grow into such an amazing young lady... This week she started strings at school and will be learning to play the violin. She is extremely excited about this and it is so wonderful to see her enthusiasm! Let's hope that her excitement continues with daily practice. 

Miss anything? SLEEP... and energy level. Work has been a bit crazy so at night I'm having a hard time turning my brain off...

Movement: YUP I've feel movement a few times... of course the movement is so tiny that Matt cannot feel anything yet... but I give it two more weeks.... 

Food cravings: Savoury stuff, salty snacks, meat.  

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope this week I've been doing much better in the queasy department. I can even walk through a grocery store without feeling like I'm going to get sick at any moment.. HUGE victory! 

Gender: No idea but a part of me still thinks boy! I have a name that I LOVE but everyone else seems to hate... Jones Robert Park... not a traditional first name but I heard it when we were in Savannah a few weeks ago and fell in love. My mother's maiden name is also Jones so I feel like it would be a sweet gesture as neither of those grandparents are with us but played a HUGE part in my life.. That being said Matt and Emma are NOT fans at all so it will not be the name of our future bean... 

Labor signs: No.

Symptoms: Totally emotional right now... don't know if it is pregnancy related or because there are big changes coming in my work situation... More on that later when I can talk about it without crying or having an anxiety attack :) 

Belly button in or out? In!

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: A mixture of both :)  

Looking forward to: Finding out if we will have a boy or girl... ON FRIDAY 18 OCT! 

Didn't do a 15 week photo last pregnancy... guess this is just a slacker week...

Snakes and Skulls

Yesterday I shared about the loot that came home with me last week from the Dollar Tree

And today I'm going to share a little Halloween decorating project that I did with the three plastic skulls and plastic snakes...

I was inspired by this photo from Pottery Barn:

The Ceramic Skulls are $54.99 each and those plastic Snakes are on sale for $12.99 for three... a little out of what I'm willing to pay...

My plastic skulls from the dollar store received a coat of White Spray paint to give the ceramic look and after mixing with a few other decorations that I already had on hand...

 

 
Not too bad for $7.00 (for skulls and snakes) portion!

Dollare Store LOVE

I'm a HUGE fan of the dollar store! I really feel like you can find one great items there if you have an eye for them... Last Friday I took a little trip to the local Dollar Tree and $53.00 later I walked out with this fall bounty!

Might not look like the most amazing stuff but I swear I have a vision/use for each item! Many things will get a DIY makeover and I cannot wait to share the outcomes with you all... In the meantime let me share the first project...

A custom Coupon holder!!!

See that plain of Green coupon holder in the photo above... Well inside it had slots for the basic grocery items... well that is not what I wanted to use it for... 

So with the help of some Washi Paper Tape (Also purchased during this Dollar Tree trip!) I covered the original categories

and I made my own labels!

I wanted for this to be a good place that I can put all random store coupons, gift cards, promo cards, and groupons. I plan to keep it in my car so that I am always ready for some savings while I shop!

And because I couldn't leave the outside plain... I added some tape to that as well.

Such an easy update! Cannot wait to share the other projects!

Guac Off

Yesterday we had a SUPER exciting "Guac off" at work (Have to keep spirits up during a shutdown!). I went up against a wonderful co-worker Jonathan!

JONATHAN'S: Very creamy

MINE:Chunky

The results....

Look at my AWESOME award! 

It is in the details....

Even though Matt is not even officially out of the area... he leaves tonight straight from work... I've already been busy getting ready for my little weekend bathroom project.

I found this great mirror at Homegood for $79.99... I did not buy the fake flower!

I love that it has the cutouts so that you will be able to see the fabulous wall color behind...

Speaking of Paint colors:

WALL: 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

CEILING: 

Totally Teal

 here it is on a wall...

TRIM: 

Swiss Coffee

 

All were purchased from Home Depot last night

I also purchased a few boxes of TILE... I'm still not 100% sold on doing this and I might just leave that part for Matt... But I went with this... 

It actually brings in the swiss coffee and teal tones...

Tonight I plan on pulling up base boards, removing mirror, and one coat of paint...

14 Weeks

You know you like this photo taken at work... Matt is off running the Ragnar and slacking on weekly photographer duties! 

How far along? 14 Weeks... almost 15

Total weight gain: 5 lbs

Maternity clothes?  I am still sporting a lot of my pre-pregnancy dresses that are a little looser in the waist area and I have been wearing a few of my pre-pregnancy work pants with the Bella band. The band lets me wear the pants unbuttoned... a little odd walking around the Pentagon with my pants undone though so I might be stopping that in the coming days... When it come to my casual clothes, when I get off work, I'm all about the elastic waist in the maternity jeans! 

Stretch marks? None yet...

Sleep: dreams still intense. I'm also waking up more frequently during the night for bathroom breaks and when I do it is so difficult to turn my brain off... 

Best moment this week: Surprise trip down to Savannah to see my wonderful family! Hunter had a blast playing with his older cousins.... This mommy even got away with her sister-in-law for a little mani-pedi action (THANKS MOM)!

Miss anything? I'll be missing my paycheck this week... thank you Government Shutdown!

Movement: Nope

Food cravings: Chinese but Matt will not let me get it... boooo

Anything making you queasy or sick: ehhh Brushing teeth is death and typically ends with me getting sick and having to brush again! What a mean little cycle... I also have started feeling a little motion sick in cars which is very unusual for me.. I thought that this was going to go away in the second trimester NOT BECOME WORSE!

Gender: Still no idea! I did breakdown and purchase a groupon to go in at 16 weeks to find out the gender of the baby at an independent ultrasound location... Matt and I are back and forth on a big front addition which would add a small room on our house and in my mind the decision will hing on the sex of the baby... If it's a girl we will do the addition so that we will have an extra room and be able to keep the spare bedroom... if it is a boy, we might not do the addition yet and have him sleep in a crib in the spare bedroom until he sleeps through (Hunter did at 5 months) the night and he will ultimately share a room with Hunter... We will see... I'm still betting on a boy!

Labor signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Getting sick more frequently

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: I would say happy

Looking forward to: Planning a fun Pumpkin Decorating party for Emma and getting my dad to draft the plans for our addition so that we will be ready no matter what we decide on timing (it is something that we will eventually do within the next year or two... even if not done this fall) 

Preggers with Hunter at 14 Weeks HERE 

And just because I couldn't be the only one taking glamor shots at work...  Let me introduce Jonathan...

Half Bath Reno Project

Now Matt doesn't know this but I plan to tackle a little home project while he is away this weekend (Running a Ragnar race)... He should not be too surprised because this is not the first time that I have taken on something while he was gone... Remember the Laundry room Makeover???

Well this weekend I'm going to try to renovate our little half bath in the basement. I do not have an appropriate photo of this bathroom because it is so TINY... but I did manage to find some photos that we took the night of our home inspection (three years ago) sadly not much has been done to the bathroom since we moved in... Just a nicer stainless steel trash can and soap dispenser...

Ewww look at that flooring.. NOT MY JAM! and the plain beige walls... BLAH...

Also not a fan of the oval mirror... Super cheep and too small for the space

I'm going to try to keep this a low budget project and I don't think that it should be too hard since the room that I'm working with is small.

Here are some images that I have found inspiration from...

Via

LOVE the colors in the above photo as well as the mirrors! I am going to stop by homegoods on the way home to see what they have in stock.

I'm thinking same mustard/golden wall color as above with the blue/gray as the ceiling.

I'm also going to go with more substantial base and ceiling moldings.

For art work... I'm going to likely go with a grouping of insects... printed as an 8x10 and places in a larger frame with gray/navy mat.

 Via

I also want to add some type of storage behind the toilet but I'm not sold on what to do with that yet... Also thinking about flooring... Will I go aggressive and start a tile project (that would need to be completed over the next week) or do a put a band-aid on it and save that for later???

Photos of Hunter at One

So we did an EXTRA special photo shoot with Ms. Virginia Leslie from House of Maps Photography for Hunter's first birthday. His party had a Cheerios theme and that is also what we went with for the photo shoot (a pic was used for the invite)

Here they are... I couldn't pick just a few so there a a TON for you to scroll through... Virginia is just too good!!!