23 Weeks!

Time just flies when you're having fun. We closed on our house on Friday morning, and we are so in love with our new house. We moved all of our stuff out of our storage units yesterday, and start the deep cleaning process today. Mr. D's sister and brother-in-law, parents and my parents came over to check the place out yesterday afternoon. They were our first official house guests :) We have boxes and furniture piled in the kitchen and garage - waiting to put any furniture on the carpets until the carpet cleaners can do their work on Friday.

It's been a great week for pregnancy (who am I kidding - I have had the easiest, most fun pregnancy... knock on wood that it continues that way!). We hit 23 weeks yesterday, and I am still shocked that I am even pregnant, let alone over 1/2 way there. Each day is a blessing :)

Best Moment of the Week: Closing on our new house that we will raise our family in! We picked up our baby furniture yesterday, so imagining what it will all look like, put together in his room, is pretty surreal.

Entertaining Question/Comment of the Week: "What are you going to name him?" We have a list of about 3 top names, but we are dedicated to not sharing with anyone. This drives my mother insane. But even if we were sharing, we honestly don't know yet. Of the three top names (which have been on our boy list forever), there are two that are rising to the very top. I don't think we'll pick between the two until little man arrives.

Obsessions: Getting the house ready for us to move the rest of our day-to-day belongings (i.e: bed, toothbrushes, food, etc.) next Saturday, 4/23. After that, my obsession will be getting the nursery put together :)

What I am Most Looking Forward to This Week: Continuing to grow, continuing to feel little man move, and getting the house in order.

What I Miss the Most: Wine. My parents, Mr. D's parents, Mr. D, and I went out for dinner last night, and there were glasses of wine ordered. Dang, did the merlot smell GOOD.

Symptoms: Same as last week. In addition, my stomach has started sprouting some lovely HAIR. That's right, HAIR on my belly - next to my belly button and all over. It's light and kinda fuzzy, but REALLY?! I asked my Dr. about it this week, and she laughed. Basically, she told me, it's the hormones, and tons of women experience it. She said it will go away after baby is born. Wow - wasn't expecting that one!

22 Weeks!

I have been a very bad blogger this week. I will fully admit that I've read the blogs I follow, and totally neglected to comment on posts. I will be going back this evening and commenting. It means so much to me when people take the time to, first of all, read my post, and then submit a comment - that's true dedication and, in my opinion, virtual friendship. I will be back on track by the end of day :)

So, what's been new? Holy cow, outside of hitting the 22 week mark, which I still can't believe I can say I am 22 weeks pregnant... a couple of things:

• Job continues to be crazy, but awesome. I love being busy and focusing on really important work. On Friday, a really big corporate announcement came out that impacted our team - basically realigning half of us. I am staying put where I am, but only because my current leaders totally had by back and basically said that I needed to stay aligned to them because I am their back-up at some point. I am very happy, but things are always a bit different when the work scene changes.
• We close on our house on Friday. Oh my gosh, did that come fast. Mr. D and I have a crazy timeline of events planned out between Friday, 4/15 and Saturday, 4/23 (we're splitting our U-Haul moves between two weekends because I need the weekdays to get a contractor in for some minor work, painting the nursery and family room, getting a professional carpet cleaner in, etc.). Our rental condo looks like a mess right now... boxes and random remnants of packing strewn all over. It will be a fun, packed couple of weeks!

And, thankfully, our little man continues to grow... here's my weekly update:

Best Moment of the Week: Having two people (that's right, two people!) say something to me to the effect of, "Oh, you're pregnant!" as they point at my stomach. My personal opinion is that it takes some guts to come out and say something to a woman who looks like they are pregnant... you never know, you could be sorely mistaken, and the woman has just put on some weight. This is why I never ask, unless the woman talks about it herself or it comes up in conversation somehow. But two people this week were passing me at separate times in the hallway at work, and came out and said something about me being pregnant. So, I guess I officially LOOK pregnant to others :) Feels really good after going through weeks of looking like I just packed on a few pounds. I definitely am rocking the basketball and I love it :)

Entertaining Question/Comment of the Week: "Can I touch your stomach?" Now, I know a lot of women really do not like when others touch their growing belly. I do not mind it at all. It brings a smile to my face that they are so interested in my stomach that they feel compelled to rub it. I've received lots of belly rubs, taps, and soft pushes lately.

Obsessions: Paint and bedding for his nursery. The registries are done, for the most part, except that Mr. D and I need to decide what his room is going to look like. Once we close on our house this week, maybe we'll have a better picture once we can spend some time in his future room.

What I am Most Looking Forward to This Week: Growing more, closing on our house, moving all of our stuff from storage units to our new place.

What I Miss the Most: Not too much this week. My guy co-workers did start up a conversation over lunch about their favorite beer, and all of a sudden, beer sounded pretty darn good. Is it horrible that the only thing I've really craved so far is alcohol?! NOTE: I haven't drank any... not even a sip, but still crave it.

Symptoms: Continued stuffy nose, and I can tell that my back is a little tired in the evenings. Also, I've sprouted some beautiful spider veins on the top of my feet next to my pinky toes, and close to my ankles. And my boobs... oh, my boobs. They are HUGE and my center area is getting darker and larger. So weird!

21 Weeks!

Where did the last week go? Wow... time flies when you're not paying attention. Mr. D and I were out of town this weekend in Duluth, MN. It's a beautiful town on Lake Superior. It was gorgeous up there... we saw a few ships come in/leave the port and slept in a quaint little hotel room overlooking the water. So incredibly peaceful. The weather was awesome - in the 50-60s! - so that was an added bonus.

Back to work today - but the day FLEW. I need to sit back and enjoy each day before I continue to let life pass me by!

Here's my two-day late weekly recap:

Best Moment of the Week: Feeling him kick and move around. It is so completely surreal. Every time he moves, I stop whatever I am doing and must look like a deer in headlights. It's just so crazy to feel actual moves - not flutters. Also, I've been told that I've "popped," which is a nice feeling. I am of usual average, non-pregnant weight, and I would say that up to about 17 weeks, my baby "bump" kinda looked like I was packing on the pounds. I just felt chubby. My middle has definitely popped out (straight out, thankfully, not spread throughout my mid-section), and I love it.

Entertaining Question/Comment of the Week: Nothing really I can think of this week...

Obsessions: Still thinking about the bedding for his nursery. I think I found what I wanted, but still planning to look a bit more. We bought the nursery furniture on Friday, and it arrives within 2 weeks. We close on our new house on April 15, so planning to pick it up on April 16. Once we have the furniture, I think I will be inspired to make a solid decision on bedding.

What I am Most Looking Forward to This Week: Growing more. Getting everything ready to close on our house next week (holy cow, next week!).

What I Miss the Most: Back to wine. I miss my nightly glass with Mr. D.

Symptoms: Stuffy nose. Mr. D says I am breathing really loudly at night... almost snoring, but more so breathing really heavy. I know it's because of my nose. Also, swollen gums. Every time I floss, I bleed, which my Dentist said is totally normal.

Also, please keep us in your prayers... for those of you who have followed our journey, we are temporarily living in a condo until we close on our house. We've been here 7 months, and are locked into paying rent through August, even if we aren't living here. Last week, we heard from the girl who owns our condo, and she's willing to let us out of our lease with a small fee if she can find someone else to rent. When we approached her with the idea of her to rent it out earlier than anticipated, she originally said no (which, by contract, just meant that we pay though the life of our lease). Not sure why she changed her mind, but she's willing to search out another renter. We are so incredibly thankful! She is having someone come through on Wednesday to look at it and hopefully rent it for May. We would be saving $3000! So, fingers crossed that this works out!