16 Weeks

(I feel like my bump looks completely different in person than it does in pictures)

 How far along?   16 weeks 

Total weight gain:   +7 

Maternity clothes?   Not yet. I’m surprised I still fit into some of my jeans buttoned up, but I wouldn’t say they are comfortable. I visited a few maternity clothing stores and found a few future possibilities though.  

Stretch marks?   None. I realize this is highly due to genetics, but so far lotions have worked well.  

Sleep:  Sleep is pretty interrupted. I wake up occasionally throughout the night and then again an hour or two before my alarm goes off and can’t get back to sleep. I am having very vivid strange dreams and when I wake up I am very disappointed. They aren’t ever good dreams either, so I just remember a bunch of nonsense.  

Best moment this week:   Getting another ultrasound (with video!) and feeling the baby move around a lot more. 

Miss Anything?    Just my sleep. I was so tired this weekend that I actually fell asleep while I was being talked to. I heard two words, then BAM, eyes closed. There isn’t too much else to miss at this point.   

Movement:   Yes sir! I love feeling this baby move! I feel little flutters in my stomach throughout the day and it always, without fail, cheers me up. I think that being able to feel the baby move has increased my love for this little one even more. I never thought that I would love having someone kicking me in the stomach…. 

Food cravings:   More garlic rolls, guacamole, and pretzel bites from Pretzel Time.   

Anything making you queasy or sick:   I think I am fully off of the nausea train, but mornings still make me feel a bit woozy.  

Gender:   We still don’t know, and still don’t know when we will know. I am hoping at our next appointment (18 weeks) but we may have to wait til 20 weeks. I just wish we knew so I could count down to something!

Labor Signs:   None. 

Symptoms:   Growing belly, constantly hungry, sleepy. Have I mentioned how hard it is becoming to bend over? It is. I feel like an acrobat sometimes trying to reach or bend for something.  

Belly Button in or out?   It’s still in. 

Wedding rings on or off?   Wedding ring still slips on very easily.

Mood:   Happy and anxious. We want to know if our little one is a boy or girl!  

Looking forward to:   Feeling the babe move more and more. And…. Take a guess…. Finding out the gender!  

I really enjoyed our last appointment with our midwife. She let Gabe come up and find the baby’s heartbeat, it was really sweet. He put the microphone right on the baby and we heard it right away. As she was feeling for my uterus she noticed that it was a bit high. She thought that maybe I was a bit further along so she had me scheduled to come in for an ultrasound the next day. We went into a large fancy room and we were able to watch the baby on a big TV. I also had it recorded and now we have it on DVD :) The baby was kicking around and even sucked it’s thumb for a little bit! The technician checked measurements and looked for anything that could be causing problems, but everything looked normal and the baby is at the size it should be.  I just have a high uterus, whatever that should mean. It makes my bump high, that’s for sure. Just happy to hear that everything is normal and looking good.

14 Weeks

How far along?   14 weeks 
Total weight gain:   +6. 

Maternity clothes?  Still just rocking my normal clothes, and I probably will for quite some time just because I can’t get myself to go shopping for any maternity jeans. I won’t until I absolutely have to. 

Stretch marks?   Nope, yay!

Sleep:  Eh, it’s okay. I wake up every so often but nothing too horrible. I am starting to have weird pregnancy dreams. I am also trying really hard to sleep on my left side because it’s best for the baby, but every time I wake up during the night I am on my back and it’s a bit frustrating. 

Best moment this week:   That would have to be a tie between making it to the second trimester and my baby bump starting to show. It’s a great feeling to make it to that mark and I feel like my stomach is becoming more “bumpish” instead of just widening as a whole. 

Miss Anything?  I can’t say that I am missing too much at this point. I am pretty happy. I guess if I had to say something it would be sleeping on my back/stomach and having a lot of energy.  

Movement:   Possibly J Really excited about this one. Gabe and I were sitting on our living room floor eating homemade pizzas and I’m pretty sure I felt the little babe kick. It was twice in a row and was pretty strong. Maybe pizza is a favorite food of the baby’s to come…? This last week or so I have been feeling movements that aren’t feelings that I normally experience. They’re little fluttering movements in my belly and I think that that’s what they really are. 

Food cravings:   I had a really bad craving for those garlic sticks they sell at the pizza place at the mall, so we went and bought a bunch of those. I don’t usually crave the same things. But I do always crave high quality food. Sometimes a dish whipped up at home just won’t do it. It needs to be made at a restaurant. 

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Just anything that stinks really. Cigarette smoke really grosses me out now, and for some reason I seem to be helping a lot more customers at work that smoke. I try to stand as far away as I can from them without it being awkward.

Gender:   Hopefully known in a month! It used to seem sooo far away, but it’s actually flying by really quick. 

Labor Signs:   Zip. Nada.

Symptoms:   Still just being short of breath and lightheaded in the morning. Funny enough, skittles seem to help in the morning a lot. Must be the sugar buzz. I always get a quarters worth or 2 every morning to suck on. 

Belly Button in or out?   It’s still in. Gabe thinks it’s going to pop out though. 

Wedding rings on or off?   Still on.

Mood:   Excited more than ever. We have been pretty giddy this last week especially, just because we are so dang excited to be parents! 

Looking forward to:   The appointment tomorrow (recording the heartbeat) and… starting to make progress on the nursery. Although I should probably wait until we have our baby shower. But, I like to plan ahead and get things done.

RANDOM RAMBLINGS:

1. Taking your own pregnancy picture is very difficult. I probably took about 50 pictures before I got it right. And Im not sure if the angle is even right...

2. I'm starting to compare bellies with other people at my stage and I need to stop doing that. I know every body is different, but its hard not to be curious whether you are "big" or "small" for your stage.

3. Pregnancy brain is real - I frequently find my mind going blank with things that I have done over and over before. Baby is taking over! And I love it.

4. I had a break down and cried the other night because I was hungry and I wanted food. Love those emotions haha. You see, before I became pregnant, whenever I got hungry I would become a bit ornery. Now when I get hungry, it feels like a matter of life and death. It's pretty pathetic.

5. I had my first "i'm getting fat" moment last week. Oh the things we worry so much about...

6. I am a very giddy pregnant woman. I am loving this stage of life and have so much to be grateful for. We feel incredibly blessed.

Our spiffy NYE Par-tay

Enjoy the classy music as you get a peek of the fun we had this past weekend:

Free slideshow created with Smilebox

12 weeks!



Not really showing yet, but I feel like my whole middle is just widening as a whole, not forming a bump.



How far along?   12 weeks

Total weight gain:   +6.

Maternity clothes?   Don’t have any yet. My shirts still fit perfectly fine, but I am in dire need of maternity jeans. My pants are not comfortable. Planning to hit up the Forever 21 maternity section very soon.

Stretch marks?   No stretch marks to be seen

Sleep:  Sleep has been kind of rough lately, unfortunately. We did choose to sleep on the living room floor for 3 nights straight for fun, so that may have been a culprit…. But I wake up a lot with aches and pains. Hopefully this will improve sooner than later.  

Best moment this week:   Getting a baby bouncer from my parents for Christmas. Yes, I cried. Haha I cried before I even opened it I was so excited. Now we have a bouncer and a crib for the bedroom.

Miss Anything?    Cold deli sandwiches, and a tough butt kicking workout.

Movement:   Not yet, although I think the baby might have moved today because I have a bit of rib pain and I’ve had more frequent trips to the bathroom.

Food cravings:   Root beer and cottage cheese, and garlic bread.

Anything making you queasy or sick:   Mornings. I feel pretty gross when I wake up early. Also, the smell or talk of fast food.

Gender:   Unknown as of now. Wish we knew so I could go shopping! There’s been so many great clothing sales online.

Labor Signs:   None at all.

Symptoms:   Mostly being short of breath in the mornings. I have to sit down a lot and can’t move around a lot or I start huffing and puffing. It gets much better by the afternoon.

Belly Button in or out?   It’s an “innie”

Wedding rings on or off?   On! I love my wedding ring

Mood:   Very much happy. I love this baby and am so anxious for July to get here.

Looking forward to:   Passing the first trimester mark, and hearing the heartbeat again at our next appointment.  It’s always a good feeling to be told that the baby is doing well.

We added a new poll to our blog at the top left.  Check it out and tell us what your guess is! -------->

Baby #1 coming July 18th 2012!

November 8th was the day. I had been having an inclination that for the past few days and didn’t want to wait any longer to find out if we were pregnant or not. I left for work a little early that day to pick up a pregnancy test. I wanted to wait until after work to take the test at home… those work hours couldn’t have gone by slower! While at work I decided how I would surprise Gabe with the news and made a banner to pass the time. Gabe was at school for about another hour, so I immediately took the test once I got home. I was super nervous so I told myself I would leave the room and not stare at it for three minutes. Well as I was on my way out, I caught a glance of it, and 2 lines were already appearing. I started bawling happy tears. I couldn’t help but watch as the lines got darker and darker. We were pregnant! I was in complete shock. I stared at that stick and cried for the longest time. I got to my knees and thanked Heavenly Father for our new blessing, what an incredible experience. During the next hour I tried my hardest to not cry anymore so that Gabe wouldn’t get suspicious. I hung the banner I had made on the table next to the pregnancy test and went to pick him up. We were planning on stopping by Best Buy on our way home, but I told him that I needed to go home to use the bathroom before we went. I had been needing to pee a lot so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. He walked in, dropped his backpack when he read the “Welcome Home Daddy” sign and said “really?!” I of course started crying again and nodded my head and we hugged each other so hard. We celebrated that night at PF Chang’s and dreamed about our new future.

I have been really lucky to have had such an easy pregnancy so far. Knock on wood. I have a feeling that things are going to go pretty smoothly. We found out at 4 weeks and I was only having slight pregnancy symptoms. At exactly 6 weeks, I got my first bout of morning sickness . I thought it was the funniest thing, I was hunched over the toilet sick and Gabe says to me with a huge grin on his face, “you’re going to have a baby!” That made the morning a bit brighter. For about the next 2 weeks I had all day nausea, but it really wasn’t too bad. I am 10 weeks and 3 days today and for about the last week or so, I have felt amazingly fantastic! I haven’t had any issues and feel perfectly fine. I wanted to start a little diary type dealio on here of my pregnancy every 2 weeks or so, and I hope you enjoy it! I started one at 8 weeks, and again this week, at 10 weeks.

(Look at those little feet! Our favorite part of the picture. We have the cutest baby!)

How far along?   8 weeks

Total weight gain:   +2 pounds

Maternity clothes?   Not yet, although I am in the market for a nice pair of maternity jeans

Stretch marks?   Not a one

Sleep:   Fairly good. Sometimes I wake up uncomfortable, but for the most part I can sleep throughout the night. I also tend to start falling asleep at like 7 p.m from exhaustion. I could sleep all day.

Miss Anything?    My energy. It is almost nonexistent.

Movement:   Not yet. Although every so often I feel a bubble or something in my stomach and I get excited and just pretend it is the baby I’m feeling.

Food cravings:   Mostly just food aversions. My cravings change day to day.  (And Gabe has been more than happy to fulfill them, thank you husband! ) Previous cravings: lemonade, olive garden alfredo, Einstein bagels, chocolate, cheese pringles, mac and cheese.

Anything making you queasy or sick:   FRIES. I cannot even listen to someone talk about them without wanting to puke. Next question please.

Gender:   Who knows?! Gabe has a preference for a boy, I don’t really have a preference. I imagined the baby as a girl up until the day we found out we were pregnant, then I just imagined it as a boy. I have also had a couple people tell me they think it will be a girl.

Labor Signs:   Thank goodness no.

Symptoms:   Nausea, back pain, tiredness

Belly Button in or out?   Definitely in. Gabe says it’s deeper than it normally is.

Wedding rings on or off?   ON. And I hope they will stay on the whole nine months.

Mood:   Beyond excited for the new edition to our family!

Looking forward to:   Hearing the heartbeat again in 2 weeks, this time for longer than 3 seconds. Momma has gotta keep her belly still this time!

How far along?   10 weeks

Total weight gain:   +4 pounds

Maternity clothes?   Nope, just utilizing the rubber band wrapped around the button hole trick. Pants are getting so uncomfortable

Stretch marks?   None in sight

Sleep:  Has been pretty good, surprisingly. I pass out pretty early and have been sleeping throughout the night.

Best moment this week:   Getting to take home ultrasound pictures of our little babe. Cutest little thing EVER. We have been lucky to hear the heartbeat early, then get an early ultrasound, and hopefully we will be early to find out the gender as well! March is way too far away.

Miss Anything?    Feeling comfortable in my jeans. I wish I could wear leggings to work.

Movement:   No movement that I can feel yet, although I am anxiously awaiting that day. That is one of the things I am most excited for. I have been able to feel my uterus growing though, and that always makes me happy. I always announce to Gabe when I feel it, “baby’s growing!”

Food cravings:   I noticed yesterday that I may be starting to crave cold drinks. Cold water, root beer, Icees, popsicles. Hopefully I am on the road to getting back more energy and I can start cooking again. I miss planning and making a good meal.

Anything making you queasy or sick:   Still the “f” word, as stated above. The girls at work have learned to call them chips instead.

Gender:   I still have a slight feeling it’s a boy. That way, we will just be really excited if it’s a girl!

Labor Signs:   No way jose.

Symptoms:   Not too many this week. Just a growing mid section and mild back pain.

Belly Button in or out?   In.

Wedding rings on or off?   Yes, still on. My fingers don’t swell that quickly.

Mood:   I would describe my mood as ecstatic this week. I don’t think I ever stopped smiling yesterday!

Looking forward to:   My belly to start showing. All the pounds are being gained, but it’s not very obvious that I’m pregnant yet!

Best moment this week:   We got to hear the baby’s heartbeat 2 weeks early :D Baby is going strong.

We're Back!

Well folks, I think it’s about time that I let you in on what’s been happening in the Dickes household. We road tripped our way back to Utah from California and settled back into our apartment. We have been back for a few weeks now and are extremely glad to be back. It took me a while to adjust back to our daily schedules… Going back to work and all, it’s a difficult thing to be happy about. We have spent the majority of our time sprucing up our apartment a bit more, and guess what?! Almost done. Yep, we are right around the corner from FINALLY finishing our transformation. There has been a lot of gluing, sewing, sanding, painting and hole drilling taking place in our apartment. It took about a year, but hey, it’s been worth it. We love our home and love having people over to enjoy it with us. We have been basking in the extra time that we now have on Sundays, now that our church starts at 8:00 AM. I thought I would plain hate it, but it’s been great to have all the extra time to do whatever we want and more. Gabe started school back up and is enjoying having something to do for the most part and I started work back up and am not quite enjoying having something to do for the most part. I did get a new job on Thursdays and Fridays though, and it gives me a nice break between my other job. I got hired with a company called Invisus. I do online chats and send emails to people that need technical support with Franklin Covey software. It’s been humbling to see how much I do not know about computers. I thought I was pretty computer savvy, but there is so much that I have yet to learn. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating because I have to ask questions about pretty much everything and I have a really hard time understanding terms, but the girls that work there are really really nice and patient with me. It’s a laid back fun work atmosphere, and I’m lucky to have run into the job. I actually found out about the job from my new hairdresser. Gabe is getting ready to take his DAT and apply for dental schools in the spring. We hope that he will get accepted into the new dental school that they’re opening here in Utah, that way we won’t have to move once again, but we will see where the road takes us. We think it would be fun to move somewhere else, since we have had fun doing that in the past, but it would be a lot different when we know that it’s going to be permanent for four years.  Life is great, we love it and are glad to be back home! We can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.

Guest Blogging

Today I had the opportunity to guest blog over on Boerman Ramblings blog, you should take a look at it! Whether she knows it or not, Chrissy has been a great support for my etsy shop and I’m excited to have found her blog!