13 Weeks!

How far along? 13 Weeks, 2 Days
Total weight gain/loss: +1 lbs. 
Maternity clothes? Nope, not yet
Stretch marks? Nope, and just the smallest curve of a baby bump :)
Sleep: We had a pretty crazy week with birthday festivities so sleep was much needed this week.  I was too exhausted to have trouble sleeping.
Best moment this week: Seeing our beautiful baby at the first ultrasound!  Pictures are on the previous blog post.
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? I'm realllllly starting to miss sushi.
Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: Fried chicken, which is completely out of character.  I have not given into this craving...yet....
Anything making you queasy or sick: Only when I go a couple of hours without eating.
Have you started to show yet: If you look really, really closely :)
Gender prediction: Well no dice on the twins scenario.  The tech said 51% boy, 49% girl..we'll see!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Second trimester!

The Love of My Life

Does it get any better than this?  I'm not sure it possibly can.  I scheduled my first trimester ultrascreen for today, my birthday :).  They called it an ultrascreen as opposed to an ultrasound because they are doing some early detection for Down's, Trisomy 18, etc.  Everything came back normal and we were able to hear a very strong, very healthy heartbeat.  Little Baby Flowe was very active, tossing and turning and kicking his/her little feet.  This was by far the most exciting moment of my life (so far!).

We left with several pictures and I am going to be "that mama" that posts absolutely everything.  I am so incredibly blessed by the miracle going on inside my belly right now and want to share it with the world.  Here are a few of my favorites, not sure why they are sideways :( ...

1st Trimester is Almost Over!

It feels like almost yesterday that I was jumping out of bed and anxiously running to the bathroom to take test number 9,999 and now here we are in the 13th week!  In just a few more days I will officially be in my 2nd trimester.  I am enjoying every minute of this and in no way want to rush through it, but I am just so excited to find out if the future holds a sweet little boy or darling little girl!  I'm itching to start buying some baby things! :)

After several trips to office supply stores and failed attempts at finding chalkboard paint-friendly chalk, I was finally able to find some Chalkboard Markers on Amazon.  I am SO impressed!  I love them and couldn't wait to get back from the beach yesterday to start decorating my homemade chalkboard with our first Baby Flowe Update.

How far along? 12 Weeks, 2 Days
Total weight gain/loss: 0 lbs.  Last week I was up by +1 but somehow I managed to lose it this weekend between my double helpings of Ice Cream :)
Maternity clothes? Nope, not yet
Stretch marks? Nope.  I'm already applying Burt's Bee's Belly Butter so hopefully stretch marks will be a non-issue!
Sleep: Extremely tired..constantly it seems.  The fact that I have to get up to use the bathroom 2-3 times a night probably isn't helping.
Best moment this week: Sadly, when my boss just walked in and gave me a company Tervis cup.  I LOVE those things!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? There was a wine festival at the beach this weekend and it was a little sad not being able to go :(
Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: Eggs and Curry
Anything making you queasy or sick: My vitamins and water...not the best scenario
Have you started to show yet: No and I am so ready!
Gender prediction: Girl, but I would LOVE a Boy too. How about twins, one of each? :)
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Our first Ultrasound this Wednesday on my birthday!

Updates Galore

We have had an extremely crazy month.  Halfway through August we discovered that our tenant in the condo would be moving out September 1st, which left us with no choice but to move back in!  We quickly made arrangements to rent a storage unit and packed up our little house in the burbs to relocate back to the center city.  Hence me removing the adorable little picture of our old house :(.  We have the condo listed through the McDevitt Agency and they provided us with a link to a virtual tour of the condo that is pretty neat.

www.avenue2409.com


Like many other things, apparently "Change" occurs in threes.  Craig also took a new job at CIC, with a new group of FAs.  He will be dealing with a new set of clients and we are hoping this transition will be very beneficial to his future in building his own book of business.  He's made his second trip to St. Louis in the past 4 weeks already, so it has been a very busy time.

Last but CERTAINLY not least.................

We're expecting our first baby!  We couldn't be more thrilled!  I am scheduled for my first Ultrasound on October 24th (my birthday!), so that we can hear the heartbeat.  I'm sure the next 7 months will prove to be very challenging as we try to sell the condo and settle in to a new home, but we are very excited for what the future holds for us!

Maybe now I will be a little more timely with my blog entries.  My goal is to update every week or so, so we'll see :)

Weekend With Brighton

We welcomed a new nephew into the family on September 20th!  Baylor Tide Flowe, a second beautiful baby boy for Season and Jason.  He's absolutely precious and I can't wait to watch him grow into a little man, just like his brother Brighton!

We decided to watch Brighton for the weekend to give Season and Jason some time to bond with little Baylor.  We also were in need of some much needed quality time with our nephew!  We had a very busy and fun-filled weekend.

Friday night I had a huge craving for fish and hushpuppies and the only place that I wanted to go was Captain Steve's.  Fortunately for us, I found one on Monroe Rd near Matthews, which was much closer than the original located in Fort Mill.  We got there just in time to miss the crowd and introduced Brighton to what we hope to be a new favorite, shrimp.

We weren't sure about his reaction at first, but as soon as he tried them he loved them.  Before we knew it, we were chanting "Shrimp Time" and he could have cared less about the french fries that accompanied them.

On Saturday we got up early and took a chance driving to Columbia to beat the rain and go to Riverbanks Zoo.  We got there shortly before 10:30 and it turned out to be a perfect day.  The skies were mainly overcast with some sun peaking through at times, but the temperature was perfect.  We fed cows, goats and giraffes!  He even got to ride a miniature ChooChoo Train with his Uncle Craig.  Overall, it was a perfect day.