Chubby Cheeks and Open Eyes

Life is getting busy and time is flying right on by! Before we know it surrobaby will be here and my family will be preparing for a move across the country.


Our 3 year anniversary dinner

Last week I told yall about mine and Adams anniversary and how I planned a surprise for us for our anniversary. Well that was a total bust.. TOTAL BUST!! The surprise was a pedicure. A nice relaxing pedicure. Well he wasn't too excited about someone rubbing on his feet so as soon as we walked in we walked right back out. Thankfully I didn't make an appointment because then I would have felt bad. I was upset that he didn't want to get a pedicure but on Saturday he made up for it :) Saturday he told me to be ready by 5:30 because he got a baby sitter and was taking me out. Normally I'm the one who plans date night and gets a baby sitter but he had a friend of ours watch the kids and we had a nice dinner just the 2 of us. I love my kids and going out and doing family fun things but its nice to get out and have dinner a husband and wife.

Sunday was Mothers day and we had a great relaxing day. We went to eat for breakfast and then spent the rest of the day at home. I was in a lot of pain the whole weekend and Sunday was probably the worse day of them all. Still not 100% sure what is causing the pain though. I'm guessing its indigestion or reflux(honestly not sure if those are the same thing because I have never experienced this discomfort before but that's what other people seem to think it is). I will say with my previous pregnancies I never experienced pain or discomfort like this.. Monday thankfully wasn't too bad but I still called my OB to see what they wanted me to do. The told me to give Zantac a try to see if it relieves the discomfort so we will see.

Look at those wide open eyes and
chubby cheeks

This is all we could see at
first when we tried looking
at her face. Both arms
covering her face.

Today I had a chiropractor appointment and THEN the 3D ultrasound! I was so excited to see how much she had changed. Well I walk in and get on the ultrasound table. Surrobaby is extremely active. She is pretty much always moving. BUT any time I have an ultrasound she decides to hide or take a nap.. It was funny that the ultrasound tech remembered the previous ultrasound and how surrobabe made us work for good images. The ultrasound was only supposed to take about 15 minutes long. Those 15 minutes were spent pushing my belly, trying to get her to move, me flipping from side to side. NOTHING! She wasn't moving. She has her arms covering her face the whole time. So instead we took a look at her arms, listened to her heartbeat(which was 167), and enjoyed looking at her toes and fingers. Finally we got the arms to move and then she puts a foot in front of her face. So then we had to get her to move that. FINALLY she showed us her whole face. She has such cute chubby cheeks this time and her lips are so plump. It was amazing watching her move on the screen. You could actually see her opening her eyes and see her looking around. It was so neat to see..

 Precious lips

I asked the ultrasound tech if she could take a look to see if she has any hair yet.
And sure enough she does :)

It was amazing to see how much she has changed and how much she has fattened up(in a good way) compared to the last 3D ultrasound. If you want to see the images from the 3D ultrasound we did at 24 weeks click here and it will take you to the blog post about that ultrasound.

Tomorrow we have an OB appointment and I will update again with the pregnancy questionnaire and with a bump photo :) We also have our levy briefing Thursday and I am so excited about that. It will give us a lot of information about our upcoming move and pretty much what to expect! I am so thankful for all the friends we have here that have been able to help us with the kids during the appointments. Yes I can take the kids but my focus will be on them instead of the person talking at the meeting and I will probably miss a lot of important information. So be on the look out tomorrow or Thursday for another blog update :)

Week 30..

We have at the most 11 weeks left but hopefully we only have at the most 9 weeks left. I SHOULD find out next week at my OB appointment if I will be able to be induced at 39 weeks IF she doesn't come by then. But I'm hoping she will come at 38 weeks and 6 days all on her own. Not much has changed this past week but I did start having contractions or Braxton hicks contractions I guess you can say.. They were PAINFUL! Extremely painful. I was at gymnastics with the kids gritting my teeth and just telling myself to breath! Thankfully after about an hour and a half they went away because they were starting to worry me. I also was really sick Monday and was planning on calling my doctor Tuesday morning if it continued but Tuesday morning I woke up feeling much, much better.

Adam and I have been waiting for an email to give us the levy brief date (pretty much a meeting to give us information about our move to Alaska) and he finally got the email. Next Thursday we should finally get some good information and answers about our upcoming move to Alaska. I already have a list of questions to ask :) but hopefully they will answer most of them during the briefing so I wont have to look like this crazy wife asking a million and one questions. I also scheduled mine and the kids EFMP screening(this is just an appointment with an on post doctor to make sure that we are healthy and if anything is wrong they need to make sure they are not moving us somewhere that medically cannot take care of us) we have had an EFMP screening before and did fine so I'm not worried about it.

How far along: 30 weeks
Total weight gain: 10lbs
Maternity clothes: I went to Ross and bought 2 more pairs of shorts because I only had 1 pair of summer shorts and man I'm so glad I bought those shorts! It has been HOT here lately!
Stretch Marks: no new ones
Sleep: It depends on the day. Some days I sleep amazing and others I toss and turn all night.
Best moment this week: surrogacy related- scheduling the 3D ultrasound. Not surrogacy related- My 3 year anniversary was today :)
Miss anything:
CLEAR SKIN!! and not peeing every 5 minutes


Movement: Still lots of movement.
Food cravings: ICE! Sonic ICE!
Anything make you sick: I was sick Monday but nothing else besides that.
Have you started to show yet: yes :)
Gender: It's a girl
Labor signs: Braxton hicks started last week..
Belly button in or out: In
What has your mood been: good :)
Looking forward to: This Friday. I'm taking Adam somewhere. It's a surprise and he reads my blogs so I can't write about it yet.
Any issues: I am guessing its pregnancy acne but it is getting worse and worse so my next OB appointment I will be asking to see if their is anything they can give me to help with it. For now I am trying out this apple cider vinegar toner that Kelly told me about. Adam hates the smell but hey if it'll help then I don't care haha.
Baby is the size of: a head of lettuce

Upcoming appointments:
May 13th- Chiropractor Appointment
May 13th- 3D Ultrasound(If you'd like to see what the previous 3D ultrasound looked like you can click here and it will take you to my blog post about the one we did at 24 weeks)
May 14th- OB Appointment
May 15th- Military Levy Brief



Today was mine and Adams 3 year wedding anniversary. We have been together for about 7 1/2 years but got married 3 years ago.. I love spoiling him. I love going all out and finding the perfect gift but this time I had no idea what to get him. I really wanted to get him corn hole boards but he'd only get to use them for a month MAYBE two before we moved and then he wouldn't get to use them again until next YEAR!! So then I was like well he likes to golf why not give him a gift card to go golfing.. He said no to that. Well he has been fishing some so I think he's just going to go buy a fishing pole and call that his gift haha. BUT he knew I really wanted a new purse. Tonight whenever I got home from gymnastics I walked in and saw the purse I wanted AND a matching wallet! I cannot tell you the last time I had a wallet and how badly I NEEDED a wallet. Not only did he get me the purse and wallet he also wrote me a sweet letter. I love my purse but seeing the wallet and the letter made me cry. The wallet he didn't have to get. He didn't even know I wanted that exact wallet. I have never mentioned a wallet only a purse but he knew how badly I needed one. This Friday while Brett is at school and Brynna is with a friend of ours I am taking Adam for a little surprise since he's off. He has no idea what it is and it's driving him crazy but I'm so excited about it. It's my treat to the both of us for not killing each other these past 3 years..

6 Months Down..

Where does the time go.. In the beginning I felt like this pregnancy was going by SO SLOW! But I pretty much knew I was pregnant by day 4 when most people don't find out their pregnant until further along. But now that we are towards the end it feels like it has just flown right on by. I'm sad that this part of the journey will be coming to an end but also excited because I cannot wait for J&J to meet their daughter. Even though this part of the journey will be coming to an end I know the journey will never end.

A lot has happened these past few weeks which is why y'all haven't had much of an update. What little time I have had these past few weeks I have used to catch up on much needed sleep.

A lot of y'all have read my facebook post about Brett. Well I am happy to say he is doing AMAZING! Not 100% but he is doing so much better. He is currently in physical therapy and is still seeing the orthopedic surgeon. He is still out of school but now we have a home bound teacher that will be coming to the house once a week to make sure he doesn't fall behind. This morning he woke up in a little bit more pain than normal but he still has the infection in his foot and is still healing so he will continue having good days and bad days. Today is also Brett's 6th birthday!! We were planning on going to either Great Wolf Lodge for a weekend get away or go spend the weekend in Raleigh and go to the zoo and an amusement park but right now Brett can't be submerged in water and he isn't able to do as much walking as the zoo requires. So if we can't go before Adam leaves then we will go once he gets back for sure.

I had my 24 week check up Monday, March 17th, and everything was great. I didn't gain any weight which I had a feeling I wouldn't I started light work outs and then everything that happened with Brett I knew that I wouldn't gain weight. Don't worry I didn't stop eating or anything. I made sure to eat because I knew even though I wasn't hungry that I still needed to eat and feed the growing baby girl in my belly. A few days later I had the 3D ultrasound. It was so amazing! J&J again had a camera shy baby girl. She did NOT want us to see her. The beginning of the ultrasound was mainly the back of her head but we finally got her to wiggle and move and she some what cooperated.. The package J&J got came with about 8 printed images, a CD with the images on them, a coupon to come back, and a few other things. It did not come with a recording of the baby's heartbeat so I bought them a teddy bear with a recording of baby girls heart beat :) I have been wanting to buy them a gift and was glad I got to finally find out what to send them.

How far along: 24 weeks(baby is now considered viable if born at this stage)
Total weight gain: I really need to ask the nurses what my starting weight was and what it is now but I have not gained any weight since my last appointment.
Maternity clothes: My maternity 2 skinny jeans, a maternity tank top, and I got a maternity tunic and t-shirt this past week.
Stretch Marks: no new ones
Sleep: Who needs sleep?? I DO!!! I think I posted before that I wasn't able to sleep on my stomach anymore. Well I lied it was just that previous night that I couldn't sleep on my stomach. I continued sleeping on my stomach but at 23 weeks and 4 days it became extremely uncomfortable! I still sleep somewhat on my stomach but my belly has to go towards the side because it is too uncomfortable to sleep fully on my stomach. I also wake up twice a night to pee. I try so hard to fight it and just go back to sleep but I can't.
Best moment this week: surrogacy related- getting the 3D ultrasound and sending J&J their gift. I was so happy to hear that they got it and that they loved it :) not surrogacy related- Brett is walking and healing so much faster than we expected! Also having my family come to visit and help out with everything going on.
Miss anything: sleeping on my stomach
Movement: yes! Lots of it!! I think she is already practicing for the Olympics
Food cravings: ice cream! Still pink sherbet ice cream
Anything make you sick: Thankfully no
Have you started to show yet: Oh yea.
Gender: She was still stubborn during the 3D ultrasound but the ultrasound tech also said its a girl.
Labor signs: I have had some braxton hicks but nothing too crazy
Belly button in or out: still in but not as deep as it was.
What has your mood been: ON EDGE! Adam has said I have been snappy lately but I don't think I can completely blame it on the pregnancy.
Looking forward to: Our lives going back to normal. We are back to a family of 4. Adam is now back at work(he took leave while we were dealing with Brett. Brynna is going back to gymnastics and Brett is doing much better. Not back to school but hopefully will be soon.
Any issues: My only complaint is my back pain. It's not too bad but I have decided to start seeing a chiropractor for the remainder of the pregnancy.
Baby is the size of an: ear of corn













Upcoming Dates:
April 14th- OB appointment AND the disgusting glucose test. This will also be the start of when I go every 2 weeks to the OB instead of 4.

My Hot Mini Soccer Mom Car.

Why are minivans called MINI vans? They are not mini what so ever. They are HUGE! The car we have been driving for the past 3 years is an Acura TSX(small and compact) the cars I had before then were compact also.

and recently we bought a second vehicle, the Toyota Sienna(huge and NOT compact). 

It is still growing on me and I'm liking it more and more each day. My main reason I like it is because it has so much space. I could drive around the neighborhood, pick up random kids and not have to worry about if I have enough room for them. Also whenever I pick up these random kids they will have 2 different TV's to keep them entertained one will be playing Barbie and the other will be playing power rangers. If they don't like one of those tv shows I guess we will have problems but so far the tvs have been pretty awesome! Also this thing drives SO SMOOTH! I mean I feel like we are flying instead of driving. The automatic
doors = AMAZING!! And I love that the middle row moves so easily so if I need to get to the back row I don't have to climb in the car to get there. Plus I have the option for the middle row to have captain seating or bench seating. The only thing I wish the car really had that it doesn't is a sunroof. How do you people without a sunroof survive(btw today was PERFECT sunroof weather).

 

A few reason I don't like it is because I am short which means I have short arms. Whenever I was in my small compact car if a kid talked back to me I could fling my arm around in the backseat without even looking and I would end up hitting a leg sooner or later. BUT in the minivan I cant reach anything! So I guess I'm going to end up going in the woods behind our house and finding a switch. I'll have to find 2 different lengths because if one of the kids are in the 3rd row I need to be able to reach them but if they are in the second row I don't want to use the same stick for fear that I'll end up poking them in the eye or something. Another short people problem is that the windshield is SO BIG which can make things like cleaning snow off the windshield a little difficult. Well last week it snowed a lot(well a lot for what I'm use to) and over night it rained a tiny bit so we had a layer of ice on top of the snow.

 

This is all I could reach to clean off my windshield. Then my husband had to come out and save the day. And clean the rest of the windshield off. Thankfully he was home because if not I would have just turned on the defrosters and waited until it all melted away :)

 

There is this really neat small mirror in the sunglass holder thing that it right above my rear view mirror.

 It is there so you can see your kids, I'm guessing. Does anyone else's minivan have this? Do you use this? Can you actually see the kids? I can see the kids in the middle row but if they're in the back row I can see their figure and that's about it..

 

Even though a few weeks ago I said I NEVER wanted a minivan we may be getting another one(trading this one in) in a year or two but this one will be fully loaded and I will keep it a lot longer. I am learning how to weave in and out of traffic and not be so scared. I promise I'm not driving the minivan like a race car driver or anything crazy. I am just trusting myself with it more. I am excited for our first vacation in the van it'll probably be much more spacious than our TSX was :)


*To make this post have something to do with the surrogacy journey.
Get ready for some AWESOME ultrasound pictures.. J&J thought the 3D ultrasounds looked so neat so we will be doing 2 of them. One around 23-24 weeks and another around 30 weeks!! GET EXCITED because I know I am :) I'm bummed they won't be here to see it on the screen like I will but they will get to see a live feed of it and can show it to anyone they'd like. Plus I'll mail them all the pictures and the cd that will also have pictures on it. I really wished I would have gotten one with Brett and Brynna but honestly I didn't even know about the 3D ultrasounds back then haha.