Lemon

This week baby Mudd is the size of a lemon! He or she weighs between one to one and a half ounces. I can't believe I am 14 weeks already (okay, it's a day early...close enough, I had to get Danny to take my belly picture before he leaves for NY tomorrow morning). I am out of the first trimester and on Tuesday we will have exactly 6 months until my due date. Really!?!? Where is the time going?

So much has changed in the past few months and it has been a really exciting time. Our partying and hanging out has slowed down quite a bit. We are really just enjoying this down time together as husband and wife. I know that in just 6 short months our lives will be turned upside down and we will have a little life to take care of. And that little life will be our whole life! I can't wait but at the same time I want to cherish every moment of this pregnancy. It has already gone by so fast and I am so grateful that everything has gone smoothly so far. We still enjoy getting together with friends but between Danny traveling, the snow and being pregnant, we haven't had as much time. Hopefully our friends don't think we've forgotten about them, there's just a lot going on and we've been really content with spending time together lately.

I guess with all the excitement from our appointment last Monday I forgot to mention Valentine's Day. It was pretty low key. I made a nice dinner on Saturday and on Sunday we went to the movies together. We saw When in Rome which was really cute. I love romantic comedies! Danny also got me a dozen of red, white and pink roses. They were beautiful! He wrote a heartfelt note on the card that brought tears to my eyes. I'll keep the specifics for just us, but lets just say I have a keeper. :)

Danny is getting ready to leave for New York again tomorrow. I am headed to VA Beach on Friday with my friend Mickey for our annual scrapbook retreat. I will be gone all weekend and unfortunately I will miss seeing Danny when he gets home on Friday. I'll get to spend the evening with him on Sunday but then he is leaving for NY again that following Monday. That's nearly two whole weeks without him. I've never gone that long since we've been together. This whole travel thing is getting old really quick!

Here's my 14 week belly picture update!
Keep growing baby Mudd. We love you!

So I'm taking bets on the estimated due date (EDD) and whether we will be having a boy or girl.

So far the following people have weighed in:

Cierra - EDD August 6th - Boy
Co-Worker - EDD August 15th - Girl
My Brother - EDD August 17th - Girl but hoping for a boy
Liz C. - EDD August 18th - Girl
My Hubby - EDD August 21st - Boy
My Dad - EDD August 22nd - Undecided boy or girl
Kristin - EDD August 25th - Girl
My FIL - Girl
My SIL - Girl
My MIL - Girl
Dorsey - Boy
My Mom - No EDD - Just wants him or her to be healthy!

If you'd like in on the fun let me know. :-P

I on the other hand still have no inclination of boy or girl. Statistically with the Mudd family I'm thinking boy, but other things make me think girl. Heck, I don't know! I've never done this before. Well, we have about 6 weeks until we find out! SIX WEEKS!?!? Oh my gosh, I will be half way through my pregnancy in SIX WEEKS! Someone please slow time down...

The Sweetest Sound

The sweetest sound in the whole world is hearing your baby's heartbeat for the first time! I was so nervous going into our appointment. Though I've had no signs or symptoms of anything being wrong, I was just scared to death. The nurse put the doppler on my stomach and I gave her about 1.5 seconds before I started to panic, but before I knew it there was that swoosh, swoosh, swoosh coming from the doppler and tears were welling up in my eyes. What a relief! The baby's heartbeat was at 130 beats per minute, the nurse said that average is anywhere from 110 to 160 bpm. Danny asked what the old wives tales are for the heartbeat, and much to my surprise the nurse said that a lower heartbeat means you are having a girl. I always thought it was the opposite, I guess we will just have to wait until our next ultrasound to find out. Anyone taking any bets? We should find out in about 7 weeks what we are having. I'm 13 weeks today and I go back to the doctor's during week 17. Then again at week 20. So exciting!

A friend of mine gave me the book "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" today so I have some reading to catch up on.

I received my first order of cloth diapers in the mail this past weekend. They are adorable! I can't wait to see how they work. I know we have some time (and I shouldn't be wishing dirty diapers upon myself) but I'm really excited to try them out. I hope that I can stick to my plan and that they work out for our family. Again, only time will tell.

Danny and I are so excited for this journey, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and I am so thankful for this little blessing. I feel like the time is really going to start to fly now so I'm going to try my best to document my pregnancy so that I don't miss anything looking back on these posts.

My Latest Obsession..

So my newest obsession has been cloth diapers! Yep, I said it...cloth diapers. I know, you are probably thinking she has lost her mind. BUT, I've been doing a lot of research on cloth diapers and the consensus is that they aren't that bad. They are better for the environment, better for your baby's bum, cheaper on the wallet and did I mention they are adorable? I know not many people will support my choice to try cloth diapers, I've already mentioned it to a few people and they look at me like I'm from another planet. I don't think you should judge a book by its cover though, and don't knock it until 1) you try it or 2) you do your homework and have some facts to back up your reasons for not going the cloth diaper route. Don't shame me for wanting to be the best mother I can be. It may or may not work out for us, but you know what? I'm going to give it a fair shot, so wish me luck!!

I made my first cloth diaper purchase today (whoo hoo!) and I am so excited! I went with Smartipants one size all in one cloth diapers. Since we don't know what we are having yet I bought the neutral color pack. Even when we do know what we are having I think I will only buy a few gender specific diapers so that we can reuse for the second child (if we decide to do so). Anyway, I got one white, one yellow and one green. The reviews are great and they are made in the USA. What's not to love? They should fit from newborn to potty training, between 7 to 35 pounds. How versatile! They allow your baby to breathe and the word on the street from other cloth diaper moms is that your baby will have less diaper rash! And we all know that a sore bum makes for a cranky baby.

Just a fun fact that I bet you didn't know about disposable diapers...Did you know that you are not supposed to just fold those dirty diapers up and toss them in the trash? You are actually supposed to dump any solids in the toilet and flush it down just like you would a cloth diaper (it even says this on the disposable diaper box). Can you believe that? Who knew? I know that no one who uses disposable diapers actually does this, but it is unsanitary for human feces to end up in the land fill. Did you know that it can seep into the ground and get into your water supply causing disease? Okay, so maybe that's a little extreme, but it could happen! AND it takes up to 200 years for a disposable diaper to decompose in the landfill. When you consider up to 7,000 diapers per child from new born to potty training, that's A LOT of diapers. I told you....I'm obsessed!

It's so fun (and a little overwhelming) researching cloth diapers but I've learned a lot so far and I'm excited to see where this road takes us. :)

12 Weeks Today!

Today I am 12 weeks along. :) Which means I am one week and one day closer to our next appointment! I have been feeling a little bit better as far as the exhaustion goes. I seriously get winded just walking up the stairs, but I have had more energy to do house work and be productive. Not that I really have done much with all this snow but hey, at least I feel up to it if I want to do something. We've been snowed in since Friday and I've stayed in PJs since then. Ahh, the good life! I've been having mild to severe headaches lately. Just another pregnancy symptom. For the most part they are bearable, but at times they get so bad that I just have to go lie down with the lights off. Milk is my new best friend. Did you see that super bowl commercial? Ha, ha...I'm a "milkaholic." Before I got pregnant I would have a glass of milk maybe once every 6 months. Now I have at least one glass a day and I actually crave it which is so weird for me. We use to buy a half a gallon of milk and we would usually end up dumping it before we could drink it all. Now we buy a gallon of milk and it's gone within a week. Sometimes Danny doesn't even get the first glass before I finish it off. Oops!

My belly is starting to grow a little bit, for the most part it has just been bloat but it should be bump soon! I haven't had much else going on with the whole pregnancy thing. I did get a little emotional last night after the super bowl. Seeing Drew Brees hold his son with tears rolling down his cheeks made me well up a bit. I felt like a complete weird-o for getting emotional, I even felt like I could cry just watching the confetti fall from the sky. Holy hormones!! I cried twice last week while watching TV when Danny was in New York. Luckily he wasn't here to give me that look of, okay, she has lost it! I really can't help it though and it's not like I'm bursting out with uncontrollable tears, it's just a few. Okay, so the whole hormonal thing is a little new to me. I'm just hoping that all these symptoms mean mommy and baby are healthy. :)

The weatherman is calling for another 6-10" of snow tomorrow through Wednesday. My car hasn't moved since Friday and it doesn't look like it will be moving anytime soon. This has to be some sort of a record breaking winter for our area. I just know I will be glad when it is over!

Well, time to wrap it up and head to bed so I can get to work for a little bit tomorrow before this next storm hits. Here's my 12 week belly...it's only going to get bigger from here so I guess I might as well get used to it. I'll save the bare belly pics for Danny and I. I don't think you want to see all that! :-D

This angle makes me look H-U-G-E! Oh my!!

Snow, Snow and More Snow...

Guess what!? I'm snowed in for another whole weekend. This is becoming quite the routine these days.

Danny came home from New York on Friday. He had to get an earlier flight to avoid delays and cancellations at the airport due to the storm. I didn't care what time he had to get a flight, as long as he got home safety to me. It was so nice to have him back home!

We have been complete couch potatoes today. You would think I would have some motivation to clean the house or be productive, but there is something about the snow that just makes me lazy.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, Saints versus the Colts. We obviously don't have any plans with this much snow, not that we had any plans otherwise. I plan on making some hot wings and a few finger foods for the game. The only thing that will be missing from the menu is beer (well for me at least)! Currently our satellite is out so we've been watching Netflix. If it doesn't return by tomorrow I guess we will be heading outside to throw snowballs at the satellite dish until we knock all the snow off. Talk about Redneck! Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I will be 12 weeks on Monday (pictures to come soon)! Which means only a week and a day until our next appointment and only a week and 4 days until I am out of the first trimester!! Crazy! We're still just continuing to pray that everything is okay and I think I ask Danny at least once a day if he thinks I'm really pregnant. Lol, I guess it just hasn't really sunk in since I don't feel pregnant. Just hoping we hear that swoosh, swoosh at our next appointment.

Saturday Snow Storm...

I've been sitting here watching it snow pretty much all day. I think we have about 7" of snow, give or take. Lets just say I'm not going out to measure! Danny made me breakfast in bed and I actually enjoyed a cup of coffee this morning. I haven't had much of a desire to drink coffee but this morning it was pretty good. Now that I've had my cup of caffeine for the day I'll be sticking to water, juice and milk the rest of the day.

Though it is still a little early, and I'm skeptical of posting (hence the reason I have not posted anything real public on Facebook in fear that something could go wrong before we are out of the first trimester), I thought I would go ahead and share my belly pics. I only know of maybe one or two people who check my blog anyway, so what can it hurt? We're going to be taking pictures every two weeks starting with week 8. So here's my week 8 and week 10 pictures.

8 Weeks

10 Weeks

I know, there's not much to see (other than bloat, oh joy!) but one day I will look back on these and say, wow, where did my body go? We have a little over 2 weeks until my next appointment and I am getting a little impatient. I just want to hear the heartbeat and know that everything is progressing as it should. I thought pregnancy would be so different, but in all reality, I don't feel that pregnant. I'm sure I will be kicking myself in the butt a few months from now when the weather is heating up and I am feeling like a cow! :)

Geez, it's already 3:00 and I haven't done anything today. Maybe I will go scrapbook for a little bit and then I'm going to make some homemade lasagna for dinner. Yum~o!!

Patiently Waiting for February 16th...

Not much has been going on lately. Just waiting, praying, watching my pants not be able to button and feeling sleepy all the time! Speaking of pants not being able to button, the baby is the size of a grape; my pants should not be this tight! I will be 10 weeks on Monday and I'm excited that I am nearing the end of the first trimester. I go back to the doctor on February 16th and I will be 13 weeks along. In one way I feel like it has been an eternity (mostly just waiting to see the doctor is what makes time feel so long), but really, it doesn't feel like it has been that long and I'm already getting ready to start my second trimester soon! Wow, time is going to slip through my fingers before I know it.

I have been feeling much better over the past week or two and sometimes I almost forget that I'm pregnant. From about weeks 6 to 8 I felt like I had a constant 24/7 hangover! Seriously!? I quit drinking so that I wouldn't feel like that. Oh, the joys of being pregnant. I'm not complaining though. I'm ready for this journey and all the ups and downs that come with it. I haven't really had any food cravings or aversions yet. There's been a few things that really "hit the spot" (Danny brought me a hot fudge Sunday home one night, that was pretty tasty, of course I always eat lots of pickles but I've noticed I'm buying them more frequently, oh and grilled cheese sandwich with a side of pickles is to die for!) but other than that I'm sticking to my normal diet, minus wine, rare steak, sushi etc. The one aversion I guess I have had is I no longer have my morning cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer. It was always my favorite part of the morning to have a nice hot cup of coffee but for some reason it just isn't doing it for me anymore. When I went through my two week period of feeling like I had a constant hangover I don't think I drank coffee once. It had no appeal and while I've had a few small cups since I've been feeling better, I've actually been omitting the creamer and substituting with milk and sugar. I have been eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies though! I don’t normally get enough calcium in my diet but I have been making an effort to drink milk each day and eat foods high in calcium.

So, my life is pretty boring at this point. I come home, feel exhausted though I’ve done nothing all day, eat, watch TV and go to bed. Okay, I clean and cook still but it’s definitely not what I want to be doing. Even walking up the stairs can make me winded sometimes! I’m tellin’ ya, making a baby takes A LOT out of you. You have no idea!

On a different subject I’m getting geared up for my annual scrapbook retreat in VA Beach that is coming up at the end of February. I have a few gift cards to Michael’s that I need to spend so I’m planning on going up there this weekend to stock up on supplies. I have so much to do! I really better get the ball rolling before this baby comes though because I will never EVER catch up when the little one arrives. :)