15 weeks

These weeks are just passing me by, I can't believe I've been pregnant for 15 weeks already. The pressure of getting ready for baby is starting to grow for both AJ and I. We have so many big plans for the nursery and I'm trying to coax AJ into a couple of mini vacations before baby is here. We're slowly realizing that he or she is going to be here before we know it and there's no time like the present to get started! It's crazy how every thought is now centered around how far along I'll be or if Baby J will be here by then.

This week I had a meltdown that I blame on these damn hormones. Two weeks ago at the vet we scheduled Gus Gus to be neutered on the 25th. I started preparing myself emotionally because the idea of one of our dogs going under for surgery is always a scary thought. The reason I was at the vet in the first place was because Cooper had scratched his eye somehow and I had to bring him in for treatment. So Friday came and I brought both Gus Gus and Cooper to the vet; Cooper was there for his follow-up appointment. The second we got there I signed some forms for Gus Gus and then they took him back. While waiting 30 mins for the vet, I got to listen to Gus Gus bark and cry because he was stuck in a cage; it was awful. While waiting for the vet Cooper started to get really agitated so he started crying too. Honestly, I don't understand the reason we make appointments if the Dr. is going to see a walk-in patient before me. Finally the vet came in and asked how Cooper was doing. He'd still been squinting so the Dr decided to take another look at the scratch. He comes back and tells me that it hasn't healed at all in the last two weeks, WHAT?!  I instantly started to panic thinking the worst when the Dr basically confirmed all my fears. In order to speed up the healing process the vet would have to put Cooper under and literally scratch the scab off his cornea to speed up the process. He continued to tell me all the other procedures that he'd have to do if this surgery didn't work; they were all terrible, horrifying options. So after 45 mins of waiting and panicking, the vet tells me I have to leave Cooper too. I was barely prepared to leave one dog to go under the knife, but now I was being told I had to leave both of them. I paid my ridiculously expensive bill in just enough time to walk out the door and start bawling my eyes out. I called AJ and attempted between sobs to explain what the new situation was with our dogs. He did his best to calm me down, but by then I was emotionally spent. I drove my butt to the bagel store and ordered not one, but two bagels with extra cream cheese. I'm sure that will reflect on the Dr's scale next week. I had big plans that day, but needless to say I went home, ate my bagels and curled up on the couch and didn't move. 

At 1:30 we finally heard from the vet that our pup pups were a-okay. When I picked up the dogs, Gus Gus came walking out high as a kite with the stupid cone around his neck, bumping into everything! It took him about an hour to adjust to the idea that something on his face stuck out further than his nose. HILARIOUS! It was just the pick-up I needed! Cooper came out acting like nothing had happened; we're really hoping this surgery works because our next option is not going to be fun. 

A little dark, but here's Gus Gus in his ridiculous cone.

Gus Gus was pretty lethargic on Friday, but had some energy back by Saturday. He absolutely hates that damn cone, but the second we take it off he's licking what used to be his balls. We spent the day being lazy with our dogs, using Gus' surgery as our excuse to relax and do nothing with them. I was banking extra energy because we had A's Fan Fest on Sunday!!!!

For the last three years we've debated buying season tickets for the A's, but we never seemed to have the money. Not this year; we got married and with all the moola our family spoiled us with, we bought season tickets! We were in the middle of planning our games and buying more A's gear when we found out we were pregnant. Didn't necessarily throw a wrench into our plan, but it's definitely going to require some adjustments. First adjustment for me-new A's clothes! We went to A's Fan Fest on Sunday and after trying on all of my A's shirts I settled for the one the fit the best and by best I mean it barely covered my growing boobs and belly. The shirt has a circle A's logo on it, but when I wore it the logo became more oblong than round. It fit good enough, but it's probably the last time it will fit. I've already started searching for those super cute maternity baseball themed shirts and there is absolutely jack shit out there! MLB has the cutest maternity shirt that has an arrow pointing to the belly saying Future Fan and then it includes your team name. Well they only have them for select teams, what the hell?! I think I'll end up having to get crafty with an iron and some letters. If anyone finds anything maternity representing the A's, PLEASE let me know! Even my favorite place to shop, Etsy, doesn't have anything. BOO!

Fan Fest was such an awesome experience; we met so many of our favorite players. The best thing we did that day was buy Baby J's first A's onesie and have all of the players autograph it! We can't wait to bring Baby J to his/her first A's game in their autographed onesie! We bought laundry-safe sharpies so these signatures will last forever! Once it doesn't fit anymore we will frame it and hang it next to our autographed ball!
 

Before

 

After
Top-Relief pitchers Sean Doolittle, Evan Scribner, Pat Neshek, Ryan Cook, and announcer Glen Kuiper
Bottom Left: Onesie signed by Manager Bob Melvin, Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, Second baseman Grant Green, Infielder Adam Rosales (favorite player), Relief pitchers Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle, and mascot Stomper!
Bottom Right: Autographed division championship ball with all the same signatures

We cannot wait for the season to start! Our first game is on March 30th, only 2 more months! We'll be cramming a lot of games before my due date and trying to squeeze in a lot during late August and all of September. Of course it all depends on how I'm feeling before baby and what Baby J feels/acts like after he or she is here. Needless to say it's going to be one exciting, eventful baseball season!! GO A's!!

Besides the A's, I'm one huge Disney fanatic! I haven't gone in a few years due to $$; I hate how money rules everything! The last two years my sister has been the proud owner of a Disneyland Season Pass (lucky beeotch) and has rubbed it in my face with every post and picture of her trips. Well this last weekend, not only did my sister go to Dland, but my mom and all my aunts also went and rubbed it in my face. BUT the benefits of being preggers when Grandma is at Disneyland is presents for Baby J!! Since we don't know the sex yet she had to be picky with her purchases otherwise she said she would have spent a fortune! Here's what Baby J got from Grandma, he/she is already a Nightmare fan like Mommy!

We only have 25 more weeks!

How Far Along: 15 Weeks
Total weight gain: 15 lbs officially, but weighing in again on next week. 

Maternity clothes? Everything except one pair of work pants and a few shirts.Still looking for cute A's maternity wear!

Stretch marks? None, but a deep underwear indent fooled me (freaked me out) for about a half hour this weekend.

Sleep: It's very off and on. Some nights I sleep great and other nights I wake up 10+ times.
Best Moment of the Week: Enjoying A's Fan Fest with my wonderful husband!
Miss Anything? BEER and Cocktails
Movement: Nothing yet
Food cravings: Grilled cheese preferable with bacon, but I try to say no most times
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing much anymore
Gender: Only one more week of waiting!
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Starting to have more gas and constipation - lovely, I know!
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking Forward To: Knowing if Baby J is a he or a she!         

14 weeks

Look at me, I'm actually posting on time! I'll try to do this on a regular basis, but no promises. We made it to our 2nd trimester!!!! The first 11 weeks flew by because of all the holidays, but the last two weeks have dragged on. We were both excited to finally start our 2nd trimester, but I think the weeks have been dragging because our gender appointment is getting closer and that's all I can think of! I cannot wait to find out. AJ and I don't have a preference, but we are both anxious to know. I'm tried of calling our baby IT. If our little one cooperates, we've decided to throw a gender reveal party for our close family and friends. Here's the cute little invite I sent out with a tentative Save the Date.

Of course I'll post our reveal for everyone who won't be at the party. What do you think it's going to be? Baby Boy or Baby Girl?

The big news of the week was learning that my best friend and her boyfriend would be moving to Tennessee. Her boyfriend is an officer at our job and was being laid off due to cut backs. Another lab in TN was hiring and offered 28 jobs to our officers. Her BF is a great officer so it was no surprise he was offered the position. I know it wasn't an easy decision for her, but they both decided to take the job and start a new adventure together in TN. It was an emotional week trying to take it all in. They had 11 days notice to pack up their house and plan a move across the country. I know she was stressed all week so I just tried to be their to support her. They are moving their stuff down this week and then she'll be flying back to stay here for two more months. I'm not happy about the situation, but she's my best friend and ultimately I support her choice. I'm excited for her to have a new experience, but of course I have my selfish reasons for being sad. I never thought I'd experience my first pregnancy without my BFF by my side. I know it will be an adjustment once she leaves, Skype will become our new obsession! She made her BF promise that he'd fly her back to CA when Baby J is born. I've warned her to be prepared for BFF overload for the next two months!

In the midst of this big news, it was also a big week for our friends (beefy's sister and BIL); their daughter turned one this week! I can't believe it's already been a year! It's crazy how fast time flies by. They threw her a super cute Minnie Mouse birthday party. When we were at the party I looked over at AJ and said "can you believe this will be us in just a year and half?!" Everything is becoming more real with every week that pasts. Before we know it, we will be the ones hosting our kid's first birthday party.

This week AJ hung some pictures up in our new spare bedroom, he worked on sanding the changing table, and I put together Ikea cupboards for our Ikea bookshelf. We are slowly, but surely moving along in the process of turning our office into our new spare room. We are hoping to have the furniture of our current spare room emptied and moved out in the next week. We'll be taking before and after pictures of the Spare Room/Nursery to share with you all. Since our gender appt is only 2 weeks away we really want to put a dent in getting the nursery ready for decorating. Here's a couple of pictures of the changing table being sanded down. It's a lot of work and I'm so happy AJ is willing to do it!

 And here's my 14 week pictures.

Only 26 more weeks!

How Far Along: 14 Weeks

Total weight gain: 15 lbs, but hoping I've lost a couple. 

Maternity clothes? Pretty much everything now. I feel like I'm really starting to look pregnant and not just chubby.

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: I'm only waking up once a night to pee now!
Best Moment of the Week: Spending the day with our friends for their daughter's 1st birthday.
Miss Anything? Just being able to have a beer.
Movement: None, but really hoping I start feeling the flutters soon.
Food cravings: Still sweets
Anything making you queasy or sick: Regular ice cream, not the sherbets or fruity flavors.
Gender: Only two more weeks to wait!
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Starting to get my energy back! Finding myself with more energy, but needing a nap in order to make it a long day.
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking Forward To: Feeling flutters from baby J

10, 11, 12, and 13 weeks

I officially have a love/hate relationship with blogging. The minute life gets in the way, four weeks have slipped by and everyone is begging for another post. The last four weeks are like a blur-the holidays came in full force and took all my time with them! To all my fans ;-), I'm sorry for the lack of posts.

Let's see, I can't even think of what was going on four weeks ago. Oh, the week before Christmas. This was a busy one-AJ and I have a very terrible habit of doing all of our shopping the weekend and week before Christmas. I tell myself every year that I need to start early or no later than Black Friday. I end up buying a couple of gifts early, feel all proud and then forget I still have 100 more! We don't buy for 100 people, but after wrapping for eight hours straight, it sure seems that way. Oh, and that's another bad habit, I wait to wrap everything until the 23rd or on Christmas Eve. Lucky for me I took off the 21st so I had four instead of three days to shop!

Even though we were last minute on our shopping and wrapping, I did manage to design, print, and mail out our first Christmas card! I can't wait until I get to design next years with Baby J!

  

I know the holidays are crazy for everyone, but it seems like ours are just insane! AJ and I are both from families of divorce so for last five years we've been squeezing in 3x, 4x, even 5x the families in one, maybe two days. We have sucked it up and made it work all these years because we both love being with our family on the actual holidays. We've always committed to seeing everyone because we knew once we had kids, there was no way we'd dragging them around all day. This year was our final holiday hoorah so we wanted to see everyone! It was so much harder to accomplish this year. Being pregnant really took it's toll on me this year.

Being so busy with our last minute shopping and wrapping created a domino effect for the rest of Christmas. We do Xmas eve with AJ's step family in San Jose, about an hour away. We had every intention to be in San Jose early so that we could leave at a decent hour in order to get enough sleep for Xmas. His family stays up until midnight and then opens gifts, a tradition we were supposed to skip out on this year. WELL, being that I didn't get to bed until midnight the night before (WRAPPING) I didn't get my butt in gear until 5:30! I was so exhausted, I laid on the couch in my pj's all day. Our plan was to be in San Jose by 5:30, but that's why I got in the shower! We ended up not leaving until 7:00. We had two families to see and spill the beans about this little baby. First, we went to his Aunt's house to see his cousins and brothers and sisters. Everyone was SO excited to hear our news. His older sisters were very excited to hear they were going to be Auntys. After what felt like 30 mins, we realized we'd been there for two hours! It was 10pm before we even left for our last stop; so much for heading home at a decent hour. 

We were really looking forward to telling his step family because last Christmas Eve we announced our engagement. Maybe this will become a tradition, minus next year-not getting preggers with a 7 month old! By the time we got to the house everyone was three sheets to the wind and loving life! When we broke the news the excitement was on overload thanks to the flowing booze! It was such a great response! We ended up staying to see the midnight gift extravaganza and didn't make it home until after 2am, UGH!

When I was a kid we had a rule that we couldn't come downstairs until 6am on Christmas morning. My sister and I would be up by 5am and just sit at the top of the stairs counting down the minutes. Now that I'm becoming an old fart and pregnant on top of that, I have to set an alarm to get my butt up on Christmas morning. There is literally no time to waste on Christmas; if we don't stick to the schedule we'll miss seeing someone. So at 8am, AJ and I rushed to exchange our gifts. AJ spoiled me with a new pair of super cute Uggs and an amazing Aldo purse!

    










Right after we found out we were pregnant, AJ mentioned that he wanted to learn how to play the guitar so he could sing to the baby. FYI, my husband always jokes saying he has a great singing voice and should be on American Idol, but I really do think he secretly believes it. So for Christmas I bought him an acoustic guitar starter pack and a Guitar For Dummies book. He was so excited because he literally had no idea what I was getting him. Unlike him, I'm pretty good at keeping a secret! 

After we exchanged gifts, we gathered up the bags and bags of presents to be delivered and our four pup pups and headed to my parent's house. As always, we were spoiled rotten by them! Even Baby J got some presents (big surprise, next year he/she will be the ONLY one getting gifts). Since we don't know the gender yet, Baby J got a pack of white onesies. I can't wait to see our chubby bundle of joy in those plain white onesies! And yes, we'll be having a chubby baby-mama was 10lbs and daddy was 8 1/2lbs. We also got a frame for the nursery, by far the cutest frame to own!

Finally, I saved the best for last, they bought us a 3D Ultrasound package!! This ultrasound has been the only thing AJ and I have agreed on getting no matter what and now we have it! My mom worked with my cousin to find the best place so we'll be visiting Womb With A View sometime between 20-24 weeks to see our little baby boy or girl (we'll know by then)!

The rest of our gifts from both his parents and my dad were fantastic and we felt completely spoiled. During our crazy day we somehow found time to shower (you're welcome family) before we had to get back on the road. We made two more stops before heading out to Castro Valley to visit his Grandparents. Right before we passed through Tracy, AJ decided it was too late to drive out there because he had to work the next day and he knew I was exhausted. We felt terrible, but we already had dinner plans later in the week for his Grandma's 70th birthday. It was 9pm before we settled on the couch amongst the remaining gifts and wrapping paper. We were both so exhausted and secretly excited we wouldn't be rushing around like this ever again. We started talking about plans for next year and there's no way around it, we'll have to visit family or have them over on days other than the actual holiday. I think they'll all understand and we'll rotate each year, but it's the only way we can see our family and still start our own traditions with Baby J. 

The rest of the week was so relaxing. I took the time off between Christmas and New Year's Eve and thank goodness I did because my wardrobe literally shrunk (or I expanded) overnight! I still hadn't told my work that I was pregnant and I had just ran out of clothes to hide my growing everything. Absolutely nothing fit me between weeks 11 and 12. I love to shop, but when you have to purchase a whole new, expensive, maternity wardrobe, it gets exhausting. I never stopped to think that I would need to buy all new clothes. Thankfully I got a few new pieces for Xmas, but like I said NOTHING fit so I had to buy so much more. My wardrobe is starting to look pretty decent, but I really need to work clothes. 

The weekend before NYE we hosted our annual Friendsmas. I think we've only done this once before, but it has become an annual thing! It was so nice to get together with our closet friends to exchange our real gifts and also do a white elephant exchange. AJ and I cooked the ham and potatoes (with the help of the beefy) and everyone else brought the sides and desserts. We had a blast stuffing our faces and laughing at the ridiculous white elephant gifts and we took the opportunity to set our NYE plans. We are always last minute people! The BFF finally found a great restaurant in Pleasanton (30 mins away) that was hosting a three course dinner and NYE party. I was able to pull something together from the small amount of clothes left that actually fit me and make a decent NYE outfit. We ate the best food at Handles Gastropub then made our way over to the dance floor. It was such a great night with my husband and closest friends! 2013 promises so many wonderful experiences and we cannot wait to enjoy them. This is the year Baby J will be born!!!!!!

My most amazing husband, 2012 was such a great year!

My girls!

After a long 12 days off from work I had to head back to the grind. No Fun! It was really clear that I'd have no problem staying at home for a living! Thankfully I only had to come back for three days before I was off for the weekend again. Being back at work was actually easy for me because I had something to look forward to at the end of the week, our 12 week Dr appointment! AJ and I were so excited to see our little bean on the screen and this time it would actually resemble a baby!Well boohoo on our Dr because he didn't spoil us with another sonogram, but we did get to hear the VERY strong heartbeat! It was just another amazing experience knowing that Baby J was still growing strong! We talked about my blood work and what to expect at our next appointments (GENDER REVEAL!!) and all seemed just perfect, but then he said it.....YOU'RE TOO FAT! Well he didn't say it in those words, but he did tell me I have gained way too much weight and I need to get it under control. I gained a whopping 10lbs in 4 weeks! AHHHH!!!! (No wonder none of my clothes fit) It's so not fair, I weighed in a week after the holidays! Everyone gains weight during the holidays and I was pregnant on top of it all! I've been extremely blessed to have had no morning sickness, but because of that I've been able to keep everything down and I've had an appetite of a pregnant chick since the very beginning! I think all women throw all their will power and good judgement to the wind once they've heard they were preggers. If you can keep the food down, you'll want to eat everything in site and then some! For all you women out there who ate healthy from day one of your pregnancy, good for you and you can all kiss it!

Not only was I back to work on Monday, but I was also back to eating healthy, BOO! My goal is to lose 3-4lbs before my 16 week appt so that I will have evened out. I really don't want to get a slap on the wrist again. This week officially marked 13 weeks and I could share our news to the whole world (basically my boss and FB friends). I told my boss and co-workers on Monday and big shocker they already assumed it. Guess my clothes didn't cover all that extra fat I was carrying! They all were extremely excited for us. I know my boss is already crapping her pants trying to figure out what to do while I'm out. I thought of a cute way to announce our news on FB using a couple of the best gifts we got this year.  

My Mom bought us the one on the left and our great friends had the one on the right made for us.

 Again, everyone was so happy for us! We have a lot of friends/acquaintances that have recently gotten married so we were not the only ones updating our status with the big news. AJ was actually at the grocery store when a guy stopped him to tell him congrats on the baby. AJ has a terrible memory and always forgets that he's met people before so when this guy stopped him he acted like he's met him before. The guy continued to talk about our big news and explained that him and his new wife were going to start trying this summer. The whole time AJ was trying to figure out how he knew him. Finally when they said goodbye, the guy said tell Amy he said hi and then gave AJ his name. He was a friend of mine from high school who is my FB friend and recognized AJ from pictures. The one time AJ had actually never met this person he plays dumb. It was pretty funny listening to AJ's version of the story. 

Now that the holidays have come and gone, AJ and I started to really focus on getting ready for Baby J. We live in a three bedroom house that is filled to the brim with stuff. Our plan is to turn our now office into the new spare bedroom/office and the the current spare room will be the nursery. During my few days off during the holidays I started to purge all the crap we don't need, but insist on keeping. My husband is a closet hoarder; he's not like the show, but he is adamant on keeping the dumbest things. He always keeps any box for at least a year after we've opened a product, you know, just in case! It's always best to purge when he's not around because then he won't be there to question why I am throwing something out. Now, I'm not perfect and I've been known to keep crap, but I also know when to toss it out. When he was out I filled up 5 moving boxes with crap from both rooms. I had the boxes sitting out for AJ to take to Goodwill (first mistake) and all of a sudden I hear AJ scream. I rush to see what's wrong and he is pissed off asking me why his robot doll from when he was a kid is in the donation pile. ARE YOU SERIOUS! I tried to explain that he is the exact reason we had 5 full boxes of crap and still more to go through. He yelled that maybe I should get rid of my Build-a-Bear Monkey from when I was 15 before I try to throw out his toy. WELL, right under that damn robot was my monkey and he still refused to toss it out. Now it sits in the garage on a shelf like a creepy doll waiting to attack.  

We bought our first nursery purchase, a changing table! We got a great deal on Craigslist for this 3 year old changing table. We have big plans to paint it, but the color is yet to be determined. Here is our before picture. We are going to remove the shelf right above the changing area. I love all the storage! 

 We've started to think of some color themes for the nursery, but nothing is set in stone yet. I'll keep you all updated on our final choices. To sign off, here are my belly pictures from the last few weeks. Again, week 13 flew right past us and we didn't get a belly pic. Hoping this won't happen again. 

Only 27 more weeks!

Hello Gus Gus

   

How Far Along: 13 Weeks

Total weight gain: 15 lbs - YIKES

Maternity clothes? I only have one pair of non-maternity pants that I still wear, everything else is maternity.

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: Starting to get a better nights sleep, but not every night.
Best Moment of the Week: (weeks) Hearing our baby's heart beat again; celebrating Christmas with our families; and spending NYE with my best friends!
Miss Anything? BOOZE! Christmas and NYE were rough.
Movement: None
Food cravings: Anything and everything sweet and cereal. 
Anything making you queasy or sick: If I let myself get hungry I feel like I'm going to be sick.
Gender: Still waiting to find out! Only three more weeks!
Labor Signs: None
Symptoms: Still tired and starting to show a little bit more baby belly and less fat gut. 
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and sleepy

Looking Forward To: Starting our 2nd trimester!