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!