21 Weeks

This pic was taken on the date my 21st week began, I’m actually almost 22 weeks now.

Fun Facts: How big is your baby? About the size of a large banana — and speaking of bananas, if you eat one this week, there's a good chance your baby will get a taste, too. That's because he swallows a bit of amniotic fluid each day (for nutrition, hydration, and to practice digesting), so he eats whatever's on your menu — and gets to put those developing taste buds to good use. So go ahead and nosh on those nachos (or crunch those crudités): Your baby may develop a taste for them when he’s older.

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Weight Gained: I’m up 2.7 lbs now!

Symptoms: I feel REALLY blessed. I’ve had so few “symptoms” during this pregnancy but this week I noticed my vision would be kind of blurry until I “refocused”.

Food Cravings: Pizza Subs from Subway. I blame it on changing offices and being .2 miles from subway and not having access to a fridge or microwave. So, so good. I also have been craving strawberries and bananas.

The breakfast at the hotel had strawberries and banana’s daily, I was so happy!

Food Aversions: None really (this week!).

Sleep: I was in Minnesota the majority of the week and I slept HORRIBLE. I woke up every single hour 2 nights and the one that I didn’t wake up that often, I fell asleep at 1 and woke up at 4:07. After I got back, there was a night I woke up and had to have Philip help me up because I literally couldn’t do it myself, it was really weird.

Stretch Marks: Zero.

New Baby Item: Nada. I tried to find some cute stuff in Minnesota but we had a mall fail and I was driving and looking up directions (yeah, I know…) so I didn’t really feel like going too far.

Movement: There was one day when he didn’t move a lot and it scared me to death. I even texted Philip saying I was worried, of course an hour after that he started moving like crazy.

Exercise: When I was in Minnesota, there was a road right by the hotel that wasn’t very traveled and it was exactly a quarter of a mile.

One day I tried to jog it but I very quickly found out that my sweet baby boy didn’t like that idea so I “power” walked it everyday after that. Completely 2-4 miles daily depending on my mood. At home, back in the regular swing of things at the gym.

Comfortable Maternity Traveling.

I had a nice long day of traveling and I was so thankful I took extra precautions to make sure I was comfortable in the process. My last trip to Minnesota in May taught me so much about ensuring you’re comfortable when at an airport or on a plane for a good portion of the day (I was in the early stages of pregnancy then – 6 weeks ish so I was miserable). Therefore, I present: MY TOP TIPS FOR TRAVELING WHILE PREGNANT!

• Wear comfortable shoes. This is a given any time you’re traveling but I know I normally opt for a sandal of some sort that I can just slip on easy after going through security. Not this time! I didn’t mind the extra minute it took me to lace my shoes back up, it was worth it when I realized how big the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is and how far my gate was from where I needed to be.

• Stay hydrated but don’t drink too much. You may want to rethink that complimentary beverage in flight. Nothing is more annoying than having to get up mid flight to use the way less than stellar “restrooms” <-if those even count.
• Pack a light carry on. Yes, this includes those that have wheels. If you’re navigating through an extremely large airport, even pulling something too heavy gets tiring.  My carry on consisted of a snuggie and a computer only.
• Don’t fly hungry. I don’t know about y’all, but if I get too hungry now I get angry and I feel horrible. (I’m pretty sure the angry part is all the time though.) Philip and I had lunch around 11:30 and my flight was at 2:30, this gave me plenty of time to not feel overly stuffed but it also wasn’t too much time so that I was hungry again in flight.
• Bring a blanket or jacket. I know they have blankets you can ask for but those always smell funny to me and Lord knows I get crazy hot or crazy cold in a instant these days.

Memphis Snuggie ;)

I feel like all of these are things that you should do/expect on a normal flight but I know I didn’t do any of these before. I promise they’re so helpful when pregnant!

Now that I’ve finally made it to Minnesota and have food in me, I’m relaxing in the hotel trying to avoid all the work I brought with me to do. I’m trying to stay really positive about the entire trip even though I really didn’t want to come and then when I got here, the hotel informed us we’re on the third floor and there are no elevators. How a hotel can function without an elevator with three floors is beyond me! I’m pretty sure my doctor would advise against carry a 28lb bag up three flights of stairs!!

Maternity Shopping Tips

I head out early this morning to finally buy some maternity clothes. Since I went out early, there weren’t very many people around and I took my sweet time trying on a ton of clothes. With that being said, here are the “tips” that helped me along the way.

Sneak peak of some of today’s finds.  

• Don’t shop at stores that specialize in maternity. We’re talking stores like A Pea in the Pod, Destination Maternity, etc. Everything there will be so ridiculously expensive and you’ll end up spending a ton on clothes that you won’t wear very long. I went to stores like Kohl’s, Gordman’s, and Target.
• Shop the sales. I racked up at Gordman’s today by only shopping the sales racks.
• Find pieces you can wear throughout your entire pregnancy. I found several cute short dresses today but I knew I couldn’t wear those towards the end of my pregnancy in December so I put them back. One of the shirts I bought is a tank top but I knew I could wear it under a cardigan in the colder months.
• If you aren’t completely comfortable, don’t buy it. I tired on a shirt that I loved but I didn’t feel 100% comfortable in it. Since I loved it, I debated it for a while then ultimately decided, if I don’t love how I look or feel in it now I won’t love it later either.
• Utilize what you already have. I went through my closet pretty early on and pulled out pieces I had that could work over a bump. This included tunic’s, leggings, and maxi dresses/skirts.

I know a lot of people say “don’t buy maternity, just buy clothes 1 size bigger than you are” and I understand the concept of this but I don’t agree 100%. The maternity clothes I bought don’t look like maternity clothes so you bet I’ll be wearing them even when I’m not pregnant and they’re my size. If I would have just went up a size, I wouldn’t be able to wear anything afterwards which would have been wasteful to me.

Week 20

After an extremely busy week, I am beyond excited to do very little this weekend. I have a very low-key agenda that includes shopping for maternity pants (I think it’s time…), the normal workouts, going to my mom’s to pick up a suitcase for my trip next week, the dreaded packing and a lot of chillin’ with Philip and my kitties before I leave for 4 days. Since I’ve been so busy this week, I didn’t put up my usual pregnancy by week post. I seem to always be late for that though so I’m not surprised. So here we go:

 

Week 20

Fun Facts:… If you're having a boy, his testicles have begun their descent from the abdomen to their ultimate destination — the scrotum. And while your baby is definitely getting bigger (weighing in at about ten ounces and measuring six and a half inches), there's still plenty of growing room in there, which allows him to twist and turn (and allows you to feel his acrobatics!)

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Weight Gained: When I weighed myself the morning my 20^th week started (which is when the picture above was taken), I was up 1.8lbs.

Symptoms: At this point, all I have is the hair and nail deal still.

Food Cravings: I crave pizza sauce lately but not pizza. I want the sauce on toast or a whole wheat tortilla but I don’t want the full pizza. It’s weird, I know.

Food Aversions: Anything overly sweet I despise still, even overly sweet tea.

Sleep: My little man kicks my bladder all night long so I wake up having to pee. I go to bed early now though, I’m in bed by 9:30 nightly and asleep at 10 if Iron Chef isn’t on, if it is, I wait until 11. ;)

Stretch Marks: Not a single one from pregnancy.

New Baby Item: I actually don’t think I bought anything this week and I’m not sure how I held off an entire week.

Movement: ALL.THE.TIME. He loves to move and make his mama feel uncomfortable! I swear he’ll try to squish himself to one side and it feels so weird for me but I absolutely love it <3

Exercise: I’ve been taking it really easy exercise wise. When Philip and I go to the gym now, I normally walk while he jogs (30 minutes), then I do really light weights (typically the lightest the machines go but add more reps), and if he ever does an exercise I can’t do anymore, I’ll hop on the elliptical for 5-8 minutes until we’re at the next set.

On another note, one day during lunch I ran to Kroger to pick up some snacks for my desk at work and I came across Thin Mint coffee creamer.

Um, what?! How did I not know this existed?!??!!? I want coffee lately but decaf coffee tastes a little funky to me so I need a stronger tasting creamer so something with mint in it is perfect. Plus, it reminds me of a chocolate peppermint mocha around Christmas time (which I’m trying to hurry this year!) so I’m a fan!

Moving Day=Exhaustion

Well, the day we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. MOVING DAY AT WORK! The movers got to our sales office at 8am to start loading everything up (we spent a lot of yesterday packing it all). I got to the office at 8:30ish and they told me everyone went to the community already (our permanent building) so I decided to head over there instead. When I walked into the community, I immediately noticed the beautiful decorations and also, the eight million people. Because the building isn’t quite done and has to be by Saturday, there are so many people working to complete the final details. The designers have a ton of work to do and they’re running around like crazy trying to complete it all in such a short time. They’re doing such a fabulous job though, here’s a sneak peak of one of the almost finished dining areas.

We toured the building again to see all the touches we haven’t seen in the past and to also try to familiarize ourselves with it. The building itself is MASSIVE and there are so many different wings and sections, I know I’ll have to carry a map around for a while. After the tour we started to get bored, the movers still weren’t there and we really couldn’t do anything until they brought at least our computers. Finally at 10:30 I decided to swing by the sales office to see how the progress was, or really, what the hold up was! When I walked in they said they had about 15 minutes of work left and needed someone to lock the door behind them.

Since Target is right across the street, I decided I needed to swing in to get a skinny decaf caffe mocha from Starbucks to pass the 15 minutes I had. When I returned, they were loading the last item so I locked the door and head to the community.

An hour later, still no movers.

Finally, an hour and a half later, they showed up. We told them we’d start letting them know where to put items at and they told us that their boss informed them to leave everything by the front and that’s it. We spent a lot of time yesterday labeling all the boxes so when we heard they were instructed to just leave it all, we were a bit frustrated.

Fast forward some and the boxes eventually got to the right place. I started unpacking my office and felt very overwhelmed because it was such a mess.

I dug my computer out because I had several deadlines to meet today and when our IT manager went to set everything up, it wouldn’t come on. Just my luck, I thought! He tried 4 or 5 different reboots but nothing worked and he eventually had to swap my computer out with another and I will be sending mine back tomorrow to get it looked at.

The problems don’t stop there though! The new computer turned on but, I couldn’t log in. When I finally left the office at 5:45, there were 2 IT people working to get some sort of network in my office so I can play catch up tomorrow and get some things done.

By the time I got home, I realized I sat down all off 30 minutes that day and my feet were killing me! Since I was home later than normal, Philip was already ready for the gym and I quickly changed and we high-tailed it there so we could get home asap for dinner since I was already starving. Evidently moving is exhausting and makes you hungry when you’re expecting! Now that I finally have food in me, watched Big Brother, and showered; it’s BED TIME.

I’m hoping to make it into work a bit early tomorrow to get some work done that I missed today.

Goodbye, Stress!

When I started my new job with a startup company back in May, I knew in the beginning a good portion of my time would be dedicated to staffing. As we draw closer and closer to our open day and the day my staff should be here, I began to stress a little because I just wasn’t having luck with applicants. Today though, I made my last offer. STAFFING IS OVER and I’m very happy with every single individual hired.

Today also happened to be the day that we had to pack up our office because at 8am tomorrow, we will be moving from a sales office to the our building! I can’t stress how happy this makes me because our set up in the sales office was less than ideal. It was a tiny store in a shopping center that the company I work for rented, and made into “offices”. We had seven people in an office the size of a frozen yogurt shop. <- I use that as an example because next door was a frozen yogurt shop and we had the same size suite as them. So, today, we scrambled to bubble wrap and pack. It amazes me that since May 6th, I’ve accumulated so much stuff.

It was also difficult to actually get any work done since half our stuff was packed early on. After a long, less than stellar day, it made me smile to come home to this sweet guy.

Stress is really bad for babies so I’m so happy that I don’t have any strict, make-or-break the opening of the building deadlines I have to meet anytime soon! I don’t want to go all Kim Kardashian and have him 5 weeks early.

In my quest to “be healthier” for my son, eating better, consuming more water, and not stressing are definitely top on my to-do list! Now if I could only get out of going to Minnesota next week…

All day kicking

I started feeling my sweet baby kick a few weeks ago but it was barely and off and on. Today, I’ve felt him move NONE STOP and I love it! :) I know a lot of people say all the kicking makes them feel uncomfortable but I absolutely love feeling him move. As a first time mom, a lot freaks me out. For example, when I can’t feel him, it freaks me out.

This was actually the perfect day for him to start moving like crazy because I felt extra large today. I was so frustrated when trying to get dressed this morning and the first two pairs of pants I put on didn’t fit comfortably. After I finally found something that I could breath in, I head downstairs in a really bitchy mood and then he started moving and it made me realize that me being uncomfortable is worth it.

I have to grow, I have to be a size I’ve never been before/not used to, and I have to get some bigger pants so I don’t go through this same ordeal daily.

19 Weeks

 

Again, I’m really late posting this…

Fun Facts: Have you ever seen a mango dipped in cheese? Well, that's what your baby looks like this week due to a little growth spurt (she's about a half pound in weight and six inches long) and a substance called vernix caseosa. This greasy white stuff covers your baby's skin, protecting it from the surrounding amniotic fluid. (Without it, she'd look totally wrinkled as she entered the world.) The vernix sheds as delivery approaches, though some babies still sport a bit of the coating at birth.

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Weight Gained: 2.9lbs

Symptoms: The only pregnancy “symptoms” I have lately are my hair and nails growing like crazy!

Food Cravings: Cheese quesadillas!! Really random. But also apples, I love apples these days.

Food Aversions: While I wouldn’t say I have a sweet tooth yet, I’m not completely against sweets now (frozen yogurt from Menchie’s to be exact). I still don’t enjoy the smell of coffee.

Sleep: I can tell it’s harder to get comfortable now, and I wake up 1-2 times nightly but overall, my sleep is still good.

Stretch Marks: Nope :)

New Baby Item: Lots of cute clothes.

Movement: He moves all the time but mainly when I’m at work, which is weird because I heard it’s normally overnight.

Exercise: Same here; I’m working out still but modifying. I did do a killer leg workout the other day and I can barely walk. I don’t think that will be on the agenda again until after my sweet baby boy is born.

Gender Prediction

There are so many “gender prediction” quizzes out there along with a lot of old wives tales about the different things that happen if you’re pregnant with a boy or girl. I was dying to know what I was having so of course I looked up about a billion of them and took some quizzes but most of the time my quiz results said “50% chance it’s a boy/50% chance it’s a girl”. Oh really? Ya don’t say! So, now that I know I’m having a boy, I thought I’d go back and see what’s true for me and what is not.

According to the “facts” if you’re pregnant with a boy:

Your bump is low. – Correct!

Your babys heart beat is over 140 beats per minute. Correct! Right at 148 :)

Your skin gets better. – Mine didn’t get better, for sure. So, wrong!

You don’t have much nausea. – Correct! I was sick for 2 weeks, tops, but even then I wasn’t too miserable. A friend of mine pregnant with a girl due 19 days before me was sick for at least 3 straight months.

You crave more salt/sour than sweet. – I definitely want nothing to do with sweets so, right!

You have to shave your legs more often. – Correct! I definitely do, my leg hair grow backs like crazy :(  

You gain weight only in your stomach, not your hips/butt. – I feel like I’ve gained mostly in my hips :( So, wrong!

Your feet get colder. – Mine have! Right!

Being pregnant with a boy will make your nose increase in size. Wrong, mine is the same.

Boys make your chest grow. Correct, mine has grown for sure

On your first ultrasound, your boys will be to the right and girls will be to the left. – WRONG! Mine was on the left. This was had my mom convinced I was pregnant with a girl, she was kind of shocked when she found out he’s a boy ;)

It looks like most of the “tales” are right in my situation but I still don’t believe in all that ;)

Ready for Fall

I remember when I was in school, I never wanted summer to end. Ever since I started working full time (2009….), I’d much rather it be fall and I normally “wish” the summer away. It’s too dang hot for anything in the summer in Memphis. This year in particular, I’m wishing the summer away because that just means I’m that much closer to meeting my baby boy :)

This morning, feeling in a very “fall” mood, I decided to make a Pumpkin Shake for breakfast. After I realized it tasted like pumpkin pie, it didn’t last long!

Pumpkin Shake:

• 1/4 can pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 banana
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• small handful of ice

I also had a Nature Valley Sweet & Sault Nut bar on the side. These things are addicting. 

I ate part 1 of my lunch around 11:15 today.

 

Lunch #1: 2 turkey/cheese tortillas + bag of mixed fruit + 2 pickles

  

I haven’t had part 2 just yet, but I’m sure I’ll be hungry within the next hour!

21, a look back

I was so excited to find out the sex of the baby on my birthday this year, I really didn’t feel like it was my birthday but now that I’ve been the big 2-2 for 2 days now, I can’t help but look back and think about how much my life has changed the past year.

Last year my birthday was on a Thursday and since I was turning 21, Philip and I took off work Thursday and Friday and went to VEGAS for a long weekend.

I remember feeling so excited to wake up and head to the airport bright and early, we couldn’t wait to do all things Vegas. Although we aren’t big time gamblers (we went to Vegas and only gambled once), we enjoyed the all-day-drinking, the sites, and the shows!

Vegas was definitely amazing and I highly recommend everyone go at least once, Philip and I had so much fun. We saw Blue Man Group, X Burlesque, and the Variety Show. We stayed at the Bellagio and it was absolutely gorgeous but if I were to go back, I’d stay somewhere else only because everything in the Bellagio was so expensive ($6 bottled Coors Lite’s) , we spent all of our time in the other casino’s anyway. The location was perfect though because it was in the middle of everything. The eating in Vegas was amazing as well. We hit up the (very expensive) buffet in the Bellagio twice, tried several mexican restaurants, and places along the strip.

Aside from Vegas last year, I was working for a company I hated. I felt miserable going to work everyday and when I got another job offer that paid less, I almost stayed but I ended up leaving anyway and I think that was the best decision I could have ever made for myself. I’m much happier now and don’t dread going to work daily! It’s a great feeling.

Nothing compares to how I spent my birthday this year though. I was like a kid on Christmas waking up because I knew at 9am I was going to see my sweet baby on the ultrasound and find out if I needed to start buying pink or blue!I guess what they say is true, women really do become moms when they get pregnant because there’s such a special bond you have with your baby after “growing” them for 9 months. I know I’ve definitely transformed into “mommy-mode” already and I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m so excited for December to get here so I can meet my son!!!

Legs + Shoulders Workout & Baby Stuff

Enough workout talk, let’s talk baby stuff!

Let the shopping begin!

Mom, Megan and I went all over earlier doing the first of the baby shopping and I’m so excited! Little boy stuff is definitely harder to find than girl stuff, mainly because there’s triple the amount of girl stuff out there but we found a lot of adorable stuff.

Our first stop took us to lunch at Mellow Mushroom. We started with pretzels and by the time we got our pizza, we were already feeling pretty full so we only managed to have 1 piece each.

When lunch was out of the way, we were ready to start the shopping and we head to JcPenny’s to check out their baby department. This sweet little outfit caught my eye immediately.

We also ended up walking away with:

Do you see a pattern? Evidently I’m drawn to all things monkey! We also got a few outfits that didn’t involve monkeys, they were sports related.

After Penny’s, we walked down to Babies ‘R’ Us. They were having a pretty good sale on clothes and we found a really cute “I was born awesome” outfit but we spent more time looking at furniture and bedding.

We didn’t buy any bedding today but I found two that I love. Now I guess I have some decisions to make.

I think I’m leaning towards the first one because I feel like the second one is too much green and the nursery is already green. I also love the cribs in both of those pictures, now to find a crib that doesn’t cost $499. I really want one that converts into a toddler bed so we can use it a little longer, we shall see!

After Babies ‘R’ Us, we head across the street to good ole' Target. My feet were hurting from walking so much so when I came across a  rocking chair I had to “try it out”, you know, in case I decided to get one for the baby. It was actually very comfortable and there may be one in my future!

Now, I’m trying to decide what to make for dinner and since I haven’t been to the grocery store lately, I have a feeling I’ll have to get very creative to come up with something. 

IT’S A BOY!!!!!!!

 

I’m so excited! We don’t have a name yet but we know his middle name will be Kingsley. Kingsley is a family name on the Bach side so we were excited to be able to continue the tradition!

It’s funny because in the beginning I had a “feeling” it was a boy but everyone kept telling me that I was having a girl so I started being very unsure. Looks like my mama intuition was right all along. I’ve also always wanted a boy, which I feel is probably “weird” too. I know most girls want daughters but from day 1 I was telling 2 friends of mine I want a boy.

This little guy of ours is pretty stubborn though. He kept holding his legs giving the ultrasound lady a hard time. I hope that isn’t a sign of what he’ll be like after birth!

We were thrilled when the doctor told us he has all his fingers and toes, his heartbeat is 148, and all of his markers look good. We have a healthy baby, which is the best news ever! :):)

Yesterday’s Food

Breakfast: 2 toaster strudels + milk + banana

Breakfast #2: maple and brown sugar oatmeal + yogurt

Lunch: 2 red peppers + cottage cheese + turkey “hotdog”

Snack: baked pb oatmeal bar (yum!!) + apple slices

Dinner: pepperoni and sausage calzone (birthday dinner at MPC!)

Dessert: frozen yogurt from menchies <- best frozen yogurt shop, ever!

In honor of my birthday yesterday (hello, 22!) we skipped the gym and watched movies after dinner. Now, I’m typing this up around this sweet angel.

Mom, Megan and I are about to start shopping and registering for the baby and I’m a little too excited.

18 weeks

I’m a little late posting this but work has been crazy and I haven’t wanted anything to do with computers after 5o’clock.

 

Week 18

Fun Facts: At five and a half inches long and five ounces in weight, he now may be large enough for you to feel him twisting, rolling, kicking, and punching his way around the womb. Plus, he's developing yawning and hiccupping skills (you may feel those soon, too!) and his own unique set of toe and fingerprints.

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Weight Gained: 2.7 lbs

Symptoms: None as of now! :)

Food Cravings: Still carrots and pizza!

Food Aversions: Yet again, still all things sweet.

Sleep: I wake up 3-4 times a night still and have crazy dreams but, when I’m out I’m normally sleeping pretty good.

Stretch Marks: None! Thank you cocoa butter!!

New Baby Item: A diaper bag that I love :)

Exercise: Still going strong! I’ve been posting those so my workouts are all here.

Today’s Workout

I went to the gym thinking I’d complete a leg and shoulder day with Philip but once we got there I knew I wasn’t feelin’ it so I decided to have a full cardio day while he did a million squat/presses. <- No thank you! Here’s what I ended up doing:

 

Today’s Eats

Breakfast: I woke up nice ‘n’ early so I made omelets packed with sausage+hot chocolate!

Lunch: In honor of free tea day and the $5 coupon McAlisters sent me for my birthday, I had a turkey melt+fruit+sweet tea

Snack: cottage cheese+sliced apples+carrot

Dinner: french toast+turkey sausage+milk

Chocolate Lime Shake+Bicep/Tricep

I didn’t want to do anything when I got home from work today. I got home and literally wanted to curl up on the couch and stay there all night long ignoring the gym and the massive amount of work I brought home with me. Luckily, I have Philip who does seem to always want to go to the gym. I quit being lazy and got dressed and we headed that way to complete the following workout:

Now on to what I’ve eaten today..

Breakfast #1: Chocolate Lime Shake

· 1 banana

· 1 cup key lime greek yogurt

· 1 tsp cocoa powder

· 1 cup milk

Breakfast #2: Bagel with low-fat cream cheese

Lunch: Target brand Kung Pao Noodle bowl + apple slices + 1 string cheese

Let’s talk about this noodle bowl, shall we? I bought this because it was on sale for less than $2, I forgot to bring a lunch/didn’t want to grab some random fast food I’d regret in an hour, and it was supposed to be a comparison to the Simply Asia one, which I adore. However, this noodle bowl is nowhere near the standard of Simply Asia. The only pro to it was it has 270 calories vs Simply Asia’s 400-something. Taste wise it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t something I just thoroughly enjoyed eating and it most definitely wasn’t something that stuck out in my mind as “delicious”. For the cons, I followed the directions 100% and my bowl exploded in the microwave twice and the sauce/”veggies” are all in one packet whereas Simply Asia’s are separate and I typically wouldn’t added the veggies.

Snack: 1 cup cottage cheese + 2 carrots + 1 cup of decaf coffee with creamer (oh how I’ve missed that fabulous creamer!)

Dinner: chicken sandwich + “fries” + glass of milk

The days have been very long lately but I think it’s because I’m excited for so much this week. Tomorrow I hit my 18 week mark and Friday I find out if we’re having a boy or girl, I can’t wait!