17 Weeks

Tomorrow I turn 18 Weeks and I still haven't even posted the picture of me at 17 Weeks! Ahh! How does this creep up on me every time?! Here I am at 17 Weeks:

I am still feeling great, other than the occasional round ligament pain here and there. At first I was having those pretty often- every time I would get up from lying down, or sneeze I would get a sharp pain on either side right above my pelvic bone. When I asked her about it, our nurse practitioner told us that they are called round ligament pains and are common during this time when the uterus is stretching out so much. I really don't feel those pains much anymore. I guess my only complaint now is how long it takes me to get comfortable to sleep. This growing belly of mine gets in the way!

I still haven't felt the baby move, but am really trying to pay attention so I don't miss it or mistake it for something else. All the books I have read say that I should feel it move between 16-20 weeks. Everyone tells me I should feel in any day now! I can't WAIT! I even laid on the couch really still drinking ice water (heard that helps) one day to try to see if I could feel it move...nope! Guess I can't make it happen! Haha!

Ummmm, only ONE WEEK until we get to find out if we are having a sweet baby boy or a sweet baby girl!!! I sent out an evite to family that lives near us (and to my parents of course) for our Baby Branch Gender Reveal Party. We are going to get together with everyone at Joe T Garcia's for dinner the night we find out so that we can share it with everyone else. On the evite everyone is voting whether they think it will be a boy or girl. What is your guess?! I still think boy because it seems low (I don't really know what I am talking about) and because it has a low heartbeat...and because I just think it is for some reason! That does not mean, however, that I won't be ecstatic either way--boy or girl! I hope these next few days fly by so that Monday at 4:15pm we can meet our little bundle of joy via sonogram!!!

In other news, Drew and I had a garage sale on Saturday morning! This was my first ever garage sale! I have been to several in my day, but never had one of my own. Drew and I haphazardly threw price stickers on everything Friday night and on Saturday morning we laid everything out on the driveway for shoppers to peruse. Here is a picture of what it looked like:

And here is the mula we earned!!

We racked up $330! The rest of what was left unsold we loaded into Drew's Element and drove to drop off at Goodwill. It was fun to make money and experience putting on a garage sale, but it was mostly so freeing to get rid of so much stuff that has just been sitting in our garage, attic, and various cabinets in our house!!

Hearing the heartbeat

Last night, Drew and I made a Baby Branch Boy or Girl Countdown Chain! I used to make these all the time as a little girl to countdown the days until Christmas with red and green chains made out of paper. So, I had the idea to make one to get us excited to find out if our baby is a boy or girl too! I got out my pile of scrapbook paper and had Drew pick out 7 pieces of blue paper and I picked out 7 of my favorite designs of pink paper. I cut the strips and Drew helped me link them together to make our chain! It's going to be so much fun to be able to tear a chain off each day in anticipation of finding out whether Baby Branch is a boy or girl!
Today we had another doctor's appointment! Drew was sweet and finished up work early so he could meet me at the doctor's office at 3:45. I was so glad to have him there. It just didn't seem right to not have him there to hear our baby's heartbeat again. Today was the appointment where they offer the quad screening and all that other jazz that I could care less about. I really didn't think twice about it because even if this baby did have something wrong with it, I couldn't love it any less. So, instead of those tests being run, we got to hear the heartbeat again! It was such a strong sound this time--stronger than any other time. It really does sound like a galloping horse. Our baby's heartbeat was 145 bpm this time! Drew asked if that sounded athletic and our nurse practioner said it definitely sounded "athletic" and to let her know after we find out boy or girl in a couple of weeks, if she is right. Haha! What peace and joy follow an appointment like that!

Later this evening, I got to enjoy my first prenatal massage at Massage Envy! Let me tell you, this will certainly not be my last!! It was wonderful! I had been waiting for this for what felt like forever. They don't let you get a prenatal massage there until you are out of your first trimester, so it was definitely long-awaited and well worth it! Heavenly. What a perfect day!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! A special Happy Mother's Day to my mom and Drew's mom today too!! We sent flowers to my mom that she got yesterday...I wish we could have been there in person to give them to her, but know that she still felt the love from afar. We got Drew's mom, Diane, a set of 3 hand creams from L'Occtaine. My mom loves these and so last Christmas we got Diane some too--turns out she is crazy about them as well! And DREW got ME presents this year for Mother's Day too!!! Isn't that the sweetest thing ever?! My man is so thoughtful. He made me pop-tarts and orange juice with gingerale for breakfast and brought me two gifts to open as I was getting ready for church this morning. The first one was in a gold wrapped box...a small box...which always means jewelry!! I quickly opened that one first and it was the most gorgeous and special necklace that I will treasure forever. Here is a picture to show you what it looks like: Diamonds! Drew did GOOD!! It is suppossed to be a mother holding a child. I love it and it is so meaningful to me. I immediately asked him to help me put it on so I could wear it to church to show off to everyone I saw. The other gift from my sweet husband was a bottle of my new favorite perfume, Pink from Victoria's Secret. Drew always comments how much he likes the way I smell when I wear this perfume. I had just ran out of the miniature bottle of it I got in a sampler pack from Katie and Trey this Christmas and Drew thoughtfully got me more! Thank you, Drew!!

At church we sat by Ken and Diane. When I showed Diane the necklace that Drew got me, she started really tearing up which HELLO got me all teared up...it really doesn't take much these days! Worship was great and a few songs into the service I got choked up again!! I remembered that I read earlier this week that our baby can now hear my voice. I realized that our baby was able to hear me praise our Lord! Wow. How powerful. Isn't that a mother's number one responsibility? To be an example for her children in showing them who God is and how much we love Him?! I felt so honored that I was already getting to let my child hear my voice praising our Savior that it brought me to tears that I was having to wipe away for at least one whole song. We had a great sermon by our preacher, Rick Atchley on Ruth, went to class, and then met Ken, Diane, and my sister-in-law Kellye at Zio's Italian restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed getting to visit with them and then just before we got up from the table to leave, we had a cry-fest again!! I told Diane that during the sermon about Ruth where she is basically saying that she felt like she hit the jackpot with her mother-in-law Naomi, I kept thinking about how I felt the same way--I really did hit the jackpot with my precious mother-in-law Diane! What a blessing it is to have such great women of God I can turn to at anytime; both my own mother, Phyllis, and my mother-in-law, Diane. Later this afternoon, I had the chance to call and tell my mom Happy Mother's Day again. I love talking to her and am constantly thankful for her friendship...I love every minute I spend with her in person and on the phone. I know she will become even more invaluable to me when I become a mother myself and can't wait to see her as Nana (pronounced Nonna) to our baby.

Happy Mother's Day!

Week 16

Sorry for the odd shadow in this picture, but this is a picture of me this past week at 16 weeks into my pregnancy! This was the night we went out to eat with all of Drew's extended family to Mi Cocina to celebrate Amy's birthday (Drew's cousin who is pregnant with twins- a boy and girl!). We had such a great time getting to see everyone and hang out with Lara and Tony on our end of the long table of friends and family.

Drew and I took the dogs on a walk this morning and then headed out to Southlake Town Square to do some shopping. On our way home, we saw a lot of cars in a part of Haslet that usually doesn't see much action. So, we decided to check it out. Turns out it was the Haslet Wild West Fest with a chili competition and bull-riding! We watched these tiny little boys ride sheep! It was seriously the funniest thing I think I have seen in a while! They were so itty-bitty and were holding on with all their might around the sheep's neck to try to make it the full 6 seconds. I think we only saw one little boy make it that long. Most were down before 3 seconds tops! Hilarious. We went home for a while. Drew got a lot accomplished with installing a TV mount in our bedroom and mounting our tv, mowing the lawn, and cleaning his office. I, on the other hand, tried to nap while watching tv. What?! I'm pregnant!! :) Then, we headed back to Haslet Wild West Fest in our boots to see the REAL bull-riding that started at 5pm. It was wild and scary at times! Here are a few pictures that my hubby took.

Week 15

This week was FULL of fun things but BUSY! Monday night was my school's Literacy and Math Night for families to come up to the school together to learn some great ideas of games and activities to do at home that would help their child further their education in the classroom. This year the theme was Under the Sea. The Kindergarten booths were fantastic if I do say so myself! We had dowel rod fishing poles with magnets on the end of the fishing line. The kids tried to catch a fish that had a picture on it. When they caught a fish, they would have to tell what the beginning sound (can vary it with ending or middle sounds) it started with. They seemed to have a great time fishing. The math booth was a big fish bowl filled with fish shaped papers that had subtraction problems written down on them. The kids had to pick one out of the fish bowl and then were given the right amount of goldfish crackers to use as manipulatives to solve their subtraction problem. It was a hit as well and I am pretty sure we had several repeat visitors--guess they were hungry for a snack! Here is a picture of a harried Tara after coming home from that evening. On Tuesday night, we had dinner with Ross and Kacie Whigham and their sweet son Carson at Cheddar's! Drew and I had the BEST time with them and probably overwhelmed them with questions about parenting. I know it won't be the last time we go to them for advice and can't wait to join them in this adventure of becoming parents.

Thursday afternoon I met Drew at a car dealership in Denton to look for a new car. Drew's cousin's husband, Mark, had a buddy that worked at this dealership and was trying to find us something that we can actually put a carseat in! My 350Z just wasn't going to cut it in the mommy world. I knew I wanted a mid-sized SUV, but wasn't totally sold on one certain kind. That afternoon we test drove two: A Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Toyota 4Runner, both silver. I LOVED both, but was really being swayed by all the swanky stuff the Jeep was decked out with inside: leather interior, heated seats, wood-grain dash, built in GPS, and a sun-roof. He let us drive home the Jeep to "see how it fit into our lifestyle" for the day and told us to think about it, do some research, and come back the next day to let him know what we were thinking. That night, we got a subscription to Consumer Reports and found that there were several bad ratings for the Jeep and ONLY perfect ratings for the 4Runner. Now, I sure would like leather seats someday, but let's face it--we need something reliable. I will have precious cargo that I will be carting around in this vehicle soon. After we prayed about it, we both felt sure that the best choice was to get the Toyota 4Runner. I was excited! (but a little sad to say goodbye to my fancy sports car once and for all)

I took off a day of teaching on Friday. Friday morning I had to take Tango to a vet in Weatherford to be neutered. Poor thing. He is definitely a car-sick puppy and drooled and threw up on the way there...in the Jeep we were trying out from the dealership!! Thankfully I had a blanket all spread out in the back where I put him and the mess was contained. By the time I got home and cleaned up the house a bit, my parents arrived! I had been looking forward to their visit for a long time!! We met Lara and Maclaine for lunch and a cupcake from the cutest bakery and then went back to the dealership in Denton to sign the papers for the Toyota 4Runner. They made it very painless and it was comforting to have my parents with me since Drew had to stay at work. Here is my sweet new ride that I LOVE!

I am so glad we made a wise choice and feel very confident we made the right choice. That evening Drew brought home Tango from the vet and we picked up dinner from our favorite hole-in-the-wall Haslet place, Mama Licha's Tacos! Mmmmm!

Saturday morning, Mom and I left for Canton. This was our very first trip there! I have always been hearing about it and really wanted to check it out, but NOTHING can prepare you for the craziness and the vastness of this place. It was so much fun! We had a blast and I got some inspiration for the nursery. I have decided that boy or girl, the theme will be "branches" just like our last name. I envision a neutral color for the wall, browns, greens, and either touches of pink or blue depending on the gender (I can't wait to find out on May 23rd!). I want to get a huge tree wall decal to put near the crib. I also found this beauty to place in one corner of the room for decoration on our Canton trip! If it is a girl, I plan on hanging crystals from the branches. Sunday, we took my parents with us to The Hills Church of Christ and enjoyed a great brunch with them at Waffle House. After brunch, my parents came with us to Babies 'R Us so that we could show them the few things we registered for and get their opinion on strollers, bouncers, car seats, etc. Before when Drew and I went the first time....it was a little overwhelming and daunting to say the least! So many choices and so little personal experience! Going with my parents was refreshing. They were laughing and squealing at how cute things were or how neat this or that was and had so much joy in imagining their future grandchild in each item. It took a lot of pressure off of everything and I found myself pointing and clicking that scanner like crazy with such freedom! Here is the travel system that we registered for that day.

You should have seen Drew being very hands-on with taking it off of the shelve and trying it out, folding it up, putting the car seat on, etc. What a man!!! We were sad to see them go, but my parents left from Babies 'R Us to head home to College Station. Thanks Mom and Dad for visiting--we love y'all!

Short Posts to Catch Up

So, in the effort of keeping the extremely long posts to a minimum, I am going to have to post several short ones to catch up on all this blogging I have been lacking on! I haven't been as good at some things that I thought I was going to be incredible at during this pregnancy.

1. Blogging

2. Taking weekly pregnancy pictures

3. Journaling (noting when I start to grow, feel things, doctor's appointments, etc.)

I'm going to make a conscious effort to do a lot better on all 3 of those things from here on out. Since the last time I posted was about week 13, I think this is a picture of week 14 that I sent my mom on my iphone to show her how much I am starting to show.

Belly bands are starting to become a must at this point. I now own 2 white ones (thanks Lara! and one I bought), one beige one (thanks Sam!) and one black one (thanks Kacie!). What generous friends I have! If you don't know what a belly band is, you either a) haven't ever been pregnant, or b) they didn't have these wonderful inventions around when you were pregnant. Because if you have been pregnant in the past couple of years, I am SURE these were as much a friend to you as they have been to me in this time of change. They are stretchy bands that go around your belly and hold up your regular jeans, pants, skirts, etc. At this point, I am not able to zip my pants up all the way anymore and forget trying to button them! These work great for that. You just put it on over your unzipped jeans to hold them on and when you wear another shirt over it, it just looks like you have a white, beige, or black undershirt on.

Week 13

We got to hear the heartbeat again! We had a doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon and were delighted to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat going strong at 150 bpm. It was so fun! They used the jelly on my stomach like they do in the movies! :) I was feelin' like the real deal about then. I asked our nurse practitioner if it was just an old wives' tale about the lower heartbearts = boys and higher heartbeats = girls. She said yes and no...it's ultimately a 50/50 kind of thing. BUT...she said that it has been scientifically proven that if you compare the most athletic man in the world's heartbeat with the most athletic woman in the world's heartbeat, the man's heartbeat would be slower than the woman's. She said that men's muscles are stronger and can pump the same amount of blood through the body in one pump that a woman's muscles would take more pumps to accomplish. I asked her what it looked like we are going to have based on that theory and she said it's looking like a boy! It's fun to guess, but I can't wait for the REAL revealing day on May 23rd! We booked that puppy as soon as we were on our way out of the office. I can't WAIT (and neither can Drew)!!!!!!

People at school really started making comments this week about my new baby bump--I guess I am starting to show to somebody other than myself! My stomach feels hard now. It kind of feels like how your stomach feels when you flex your abs slightly! Due to that change, I keep poking my belly because it is so strange to me that when I poke, it feels hard. Drew hates that! He keeps telling me to stop poking our baby all the time. Haha! I am still feeling great and very happy.

Our baby is the size of a peach this week! So....I may have gone to the grocery store this week to get peaches and homemade vanilla Bluebell icecream in honor of that (or was it because I had a craving for icecream and that just gave me an excuse?)! My mom told me a horror story this past weekend of a lady gaining 80 pounds when she was pregnant with her first!! I do think about this every time I eat my new icecream, but just guiltily eat the rest anyway. Thankfully, my nurse practitioner told me I have only gained 1 pound so far. Uh WHAT?! My body looks way more than only a pound gained to me and that is not what my home scale says, but oh well--we'll go with that because that makes me feel better and a little less guilty when eating my peaches and homemade vanilla goodness.