24 Weeks

 Top: Motherhood Maternity (clearance) / Pants: Motherhood Maternity / Shoes: Michael Kors

How far along? 24 weeks, 3 days
Baby’s size? 9 in., about 1.7-2 lbs - the size of an Eggplant!

Days until next doc appointment? 2
Total weight gain/loss? Around 14 lbs.
Maternity clothes? I started my part-time job at Motherhood Maternity last past week so.... yea. Lets just say I get a pretty good discount ;)
Stretch marks? Nothing new!
Sleep: I've been EXHAUSTED with starting work (hey, I've been off since the move back in Feb!) but sleeping is getting harder and harder. I get frustrated easy and I wake up on my back a lot.
Best moment(s) this week:
1. B finally felt her kick!!!
2. We painted the accent wall in her nursery (antique rose) this weekend and have painted all her furniture. Next step is touch ups and sealing, and then we are ready to move it in!!! I can't wait!
Movement: She's chilled out a little this week, but definitely stronger, seeing as B felt her finally! I'm thinking shes chill because I've been on my feet way more so I'm rocking her to sleep with my movement more of the time!
Missing anything? Non-swollen feet
Food Cravings: I think they are starting to get a little weird. Yesterday I put marshmallows on my waffles. Is that weird?!
Belly button: Still a half & half. Working its way out.
Happy or moody most of the time? Still happy! I feel way more accomplished this week after working a little - keywords - a little!!
Weekly symptoms: This week was pretty good to me, but with being on my feet more, I've got super swollen tootsies by the time I come home. I've also started to get REALLY uncomfortable if I eat even a little too much. I suppose there's no room for gas bubbles in there!

23 Weeks

 Dress: Motherhood Maternity / Cardi: AE (similar) / Shoes: AE (similar) / Belt: AE (similar)

I borrowed this little preggo survey from my beautiful friend and new momma Jonna. Girl has been so helpful even from a million miles away in Spokane! :)

How far along? 23 weeks, 2 days
Baby’s size? Supposedly 8.5" and just over about 1.5 lbs, though she was a pound at our 20 week checkup so I'm guessing closer to 2 lbs! About the size of an ear of corn.
Days until next doc appointment? 8
Total weight gain/loss? Around 12 lbs.
Maternity clothes? I pretty much live in them. I have a few non-maternity maxi's I can still wear, and looser fitting t-shirts, but mostly I just wear my maternity dresses, or maternity pants/shorts with a cute maternity tee or tank! So much easier and way more comfy. I tried the belly band too but wasn't really a huge fan.
Stretch marks? Honestly haven't had too many! A few extras on my boobs but I've always had them there (curse of the large breasted). I use my Earth Angel stretch oil daily and it seems to be working wonders!
Sleep: I have 'off' nights (last night *cough cough*) but for the most part I'm still doing well with my Boppy body pillow. I just get annoyed having to get up to pee or switch sides - rolling over isn't as easy as it used to be! Plus if I get up around 6 or so to pee, baby girl thinks its time to play with my insides. But most nights I get a good 9 hours.
Best moment(s) this week:
1. Got her crib and dresser all sanded - next priming!!
2. Found the fabric I've been looking for for her bedskirt and bumpers and ordered samples - can't wait to get it all together!
3. While sitting on the couch watching the Hawks game with B, she kicked/punched/headbutted me so hard we could see my stomach move! She did it twice, and though I willed her to do it some more she must have been tuckered out. SO cool!
Movement: Oh, she is ridiculous! Moving ALL.THE.TIME!
Missing anything? If I'm being honest - alcohol! All these warm summery days have me craving yummy flavors of Bacardi, an icy margarita, or a cold beer!
Food Cravings: Weeeell I just ate a full pineapple, so you do that math.
Belly button: Its an innie and an outtie. Its still in, but if I take a deep breath half of it pops out! Ha! Weird.
Happy or moody most of the time? Happy! I really haven't been moody this whole pregnancy...unless I dont get a good nights sleep! But even then I'm just a crybaby. Not so much cranky!
Weekly symptoms: Plenty of stretching pains this week, and the heartburn is starting to kick in a little more if I eat something too spicy or greasy or with too much red sauce.

Tonight we are going to prime baby girls furniture, and I start my new part-time gig at Motherhood tomorrow - AND my bro is coming to visit for a night Wednesday! Its going to be a good week :)

The year of the Blogger Babies

Tee: Motherhood Maternity (clearance) / Blouse: Kohls / Leggings: Target

Oh my word! Y'all didn't tell me how many of you were preggo out there in blogland!

After neglecting my bloglovin feed since *cough cough* February *cough*, I finally started weeding through and so many of you are pregnant too!! 2013 is clearly the year of the fashion blogger baby. I kinda wish I had been able to come back to blogging earlier so I could have been following everyone elses pregnancies too! Congrats everyone!!

So as I mentioned before, job hunting has been a real pain in the patoot. Due to the unemployment, the stark reality is - I dont get dressed every day (something tells me that will be the case post-baby too...). I spend a lot of time in B's sweats and an oversized tee or some combination of B's stuff and maternity stuff. But, occasionally I do have an errand that doesn't require full-on thinking about an outfit, yet still requires me to get out of my sweats. In those occasions, I go to my trusty leggings. I'm still rocking non-maternity ones... wonder how long that will last?

Anywho, hope everyone is having a glorious Thursday, it is Thursday, right?!

Hey, its almost an outfit post!

Cubs tee: Motherhood Maternity / Jeans: Liz Lange for Target / Camo Jacket: Surplus store / Glasses: Old Firmoo

Ok so it's not exactly blog quality photography, but I'm easing back into things, ok?! Prepare yourselves for another long post y'all, I promised a preggo update yesterday and here it is!

I mentioned baby in my post yesterday but realized I hadn't ACTUALLY announced that she is a girl!
We are thrilled cuz it's what B and I secretly both wanted for our first, though I had older brothers so I would have been thrilled with a boy too, because I know the value of having a great older bro (or two!! :)

We are 22 weeks and growing quickly. She's a ginormous wiggle worm and is on the move constantly. I LOVE feeling her move, but I'm also fearful of it because she seems to not need that much sleep, and I have a feeling that may translate to a not-so-good-at-sleeping baby out of the womb?? Oi.

B hasn't been able to feel her kicking on the outside yet, but I can't wait until he does. Right now it feels like a secret between just me and her, and I know Daddy can't wait to be in on it :)

I have been SUPER blessed with a really fun and easy pregnancy so far. Only mild nausea in the first trimester (and vomiting only twice!), by weeks 11 and 12 I really didn't even feel pregnant (which of course wigged me out). But doctors appointments confirmed she was still in there and healthy! I had some insane sugary candy cravings early on, and was forced to temporarily swear off white meat and garlic due to scent aversions, but that all has since quieted. Second trimester has also led me out of the fatigue woods and into the 'feeling like myself again' clearing, with my only major change seeming to be my growing belly. At this point, I feel fantastic. My skin has been super clear, and my moods totally stable (albeit with the occasional 'I don't know why I'm crying, I just am' fit). I'm sleeping well most of the time (thank you Boppy body pillow) and it's a rare day that I need a nap.

Of course there has been the swollen feet if I'm up and about too long and lightheaded-ness here and there, along with the occasional painful round ligament pain stabs and weird dreams, but it hasn't been anything unusual or too tough to handle. If the 3rd trimester, labor and birthing go this smooth, I have a feeling B will want to keep me in a perpetual state of pregnant as long as we can handle it! HA!

Overall I've been pleasantly surprised and completely thrilled at how well my body has adapted to this pregnancy. It has an air of 'meant to be' around it that I love!

Other than that, B and I decided to do her nursery a little 'shabby chic'. We found a great crib and dresser at a garage sale and are in the process of (safely) sanding, priming and painting it from its light wood state to a pretty dark brown. I also have a really cool plan involving scrapbook paper for the dresser drawers! We've got our registries pretty well nailed down and we hope to get our sage colored glider via that, and my mom is going to help me make her bedskirt once we find the perfect brownish/gray shade of damask. Its a lot of work, but its so much fun! I'm getting antsy and nesty already about putting together her room, and can't wait to do so after her shower next month!

We also do have a name we love (we've had it since our 2nd date - true story!), as well as a few backups, but we won't be sharing. We want to make sure that's who she is when we first see her little face. Until then, 'baby girl' is her official moniker (along with nugget, bean, wiggle worm and the occasional 'little shit' when shes causing mommy a little too much pain).

So that's that! As I ease back into blogging I'll share more on a week to week basis and less on a 'heres a giant blog post to cover the last 5 months' basis. Sound good?!

What the what? A new post?!

Hi guys!!! Any readers still out there?! I know, I've totally disappeared the past few months. I even missed my 1-year blogeversary! Gah! But I wanted to give you guys a bit of a life update, so I hope you understand where I've been - and how much I've missed blogging!! Next entry will be a baby/preggo update, so hold tight for that one :)

Ok - life. Where do I begin....
When B and I first moved to Lexington in January, I was about 8 weeks pregnant (I'm 22 now! Agh!!). I figured I still had plenty of time to find a job before I started REALLY showing, and I hit the ground running with my resume. I've always been very blessed (and lucky) when it came to job hunting, and I have never really applied for jobs and not gotten one. I saw a lot of jobs available here in town that I thought I'd be a perfect fit for, so I excitedly applied to all of them as they came up, and patiently waited for my phone to start blowing up.

It didn't.

Then I applied for a bunch of jobs that I was mostly overqualified for, but would 'pay the bills,' and I again patiently waited for my phone to start blowing up.

Again, it didn't.

I wondered if potential employers were googling me and finding my blog and Twitter where I had clearly already written about my pregnancy, so I immediately locked them down and deleted preggo-related posts.

As the weeks (and months, geesh) started going by, I had a few phone interviews, but one of them straight up told me I was one of 150 applicants. 150! Apparently Lexington is really heavy with job-seeking marketing coordinators. At that point, I had started growing so much that I knew I wouldn't be able to hide my bump if I got called into an in-person interview. And I knew if I was 1 in 150, there'd be someone "better" (ie. not going to need maternity leave soon after starting) for the job.

It wasn't looking good. And then I thought - did I really want to go back into corporate marketing anyway? Eeeeh, yes and no. I was good at it, and it paid well. But it wasn't really fulfilling, and it was definitely stressful. My whole life outlook was already changing with this little one growing in my belly, and making money and being queen of the world was becoming the less important part of my life (don't get me wrong, money is still nice, and I'll gladly take what we can get!), but it seemed to me God was putting into motion other plans for my life, and career path. There's a reason I'm not finding a job in what I was doing pre-baby.

What then, did I really want to do? Something I had never considered before, but was in the forefront of my mind - teaching. Getting to teach kids a subject I love, and help them grow, while having a great retirement plan and benefits, and summers off with my own babies sounds really, really good.

So now, I'm in the research phase of 'Project Katie's New Career'. My major was in journalism, and I'd like to teach English or Reading/Writing. Those don't necessarily go hand in hand so it looks likely I'll have to go back for another bachelors in order to get this gameplan moving. School and a newborn is a really scary prospect, but I wouldn't start until next spring to give me time post-September birth. I'm not sure how it will all look to me after baby girl is here, since I know I'll have my hands full, but I also know I wont be alone. And B is so incredibly encouraging and supportive of this path, that I know we could figure it out.

In the meantime I've picked up an awesome part-time job to get me out of the house and keep me sane - and also give me a discount on maternity clothes. Hello. Yes please. And I'll be working on my college application and any tests I need to take pre-going back to school (um. Scary.)

So there it is. What I've been mulling over and trying to figure out for the last several months.
What I want to be when I grow up.

Nothing is set in stone by any means. Everything that has happened in the last few months has been so insane and unexpected. I've gone with the flow and kept hope that God had a plan for me and for B and for this new little girl, and I think he does. So I'm going to keep giving it up to him and see where it takes us!

The flip side of this is I don't have to 'hide' my pregnancy any more, which also means - more blogging! Yea!!

Ok, so whats new with you guys??? Any teachers out there have any advice or suggestions? Or just want to tell me how amazing your job is? Cuz I'd love to hear it!!! Hope you all are fabulous!