16 Weeks

How far along? 16 weeks
Weight loss/gain? +8 pounds
Maternity clothes? 1 pair of maternity leggings from my sister! And I am IN LOVE!!! Best pants ever
Stretch Marks? Nope
Sleep? Still sleeping great, about one trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, not to mention some CRAZY dreams!
Best moment this week? Lots of ultrasounds of Little O still looking for gender=lots of baby viewing time
Miss Anything? SHOPPING! For spring/summer clothes that is. A lot of spring and summer styles are starting to come out and I want to buy it all...only problem, I have no idea what size to buy. Still fitting all my regular clothes but that won't last forever!
Movement? Sometimes I think I feel a little popcorn popping feeling but I'm not sure if it's the real deal or just in my head.
Food Cravings? Sandwiches this week! I'm a sandwich lover as it is but I've definitely been wanting more than the norm this week
Anything making you queasy or sick? Currently a little cold coming on with a sore throat is making me extremely queasy. No one likes a cold anyway! BOO!!!
Have you started to show yet?  Little baby bump which gets much bigger by the end of the day
Gender Prediction? Boy
Labor signs? No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or moody most of the time? Happy! 
Looking forward to? Finding out the gender. We are so super excited yet nervous at the same time. Once we know we have to start planning...which means decision time....me and decisions...not best friends!


Wellllll......one more week down and one more unsuccessful attempt at Little Baby O! This child is ornery as it can be already. Stubborn? My child? NOOOO WAAAY! It's no secret to many people but most especially my family that I have always been a strong willed, stubborn child. Always marching to my own beat and rebelling against the norm any chance I could get. If most people went left I was sure to choose right. It's no wonder that my sweet child is the same. I can't be mad. I've been told my whole life I get it from my dad. So much like my father it's unreal. I think it's safe to say this baby gets it honestly. So that's probably the biggest news this week. We are looking to next week at this point. In the meantime, I've gotten lots of great tips from people which has been helpful! 


Short blog this week as I'm typing this while I'm on call and time is precious when you're racing the clock! Happy week to everyone!

15 Weeks

How far along? 15 weeks
Weight loss/gain? +7 pounds
Maternity clothes? Nope
Stretch Marks? Nope
Sleep? Still sleeping great, about one trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, not to mention some CRAZY dreams!
Best moment this week? Valentine's day! We did an ultrasound to try to see Lil' O's gender but it was not willing to cooperate! Even still, it was so cool to be able to watch it together! Jason was very amazed how much baby had grown!
Miss Anything? Ugh...same ol same ol!
Movement? Not yet, I'm on the look out but nothing yet
Food Cravings? Chicken, sweets, and popcorn this week, thanks to my fabulous Vday gift! I'm also loving the new chocolate strawberry swirl chocolate I got. No guilt on vday this year!
Anything making you queasy or sick? Steak! I know, I know...who am I?? But I ordered a steak on our valentine's date and spent the whole time being jealous of Jason's crab and lobster stuffed fish...BUT the chocolate creme brulee' for dessert more than made up for it!
Have you started to show yet?  Little baby bump which gets much bigger by the end of the day
Gender Prediction? Boy
Labor signs? No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or moody most of the time? Super happy! Likely because it's February, my favorite month!
Looking forward to? Baby O cooperating soon to let mom and dad see the gender! We wanna start planning for you and buying you presents!

This week brought on Valentine's Day, hence the festively decorated chalk board! I am trying my best here and hoping my inner artistic person grows and grows! Sooo...the weekly scoop! On Valentine's day we decided we would be real clever and try to find out the gender of our baby...yeah, little O said, "No way guys" So either this baby is completely comfortable or completely shy! I know I am only 15 weeks but I have scanned several friends at 14 weeks and been able to determine their baby's genders and I just knew it would be so easy for us as well. Well, the baby is also in a breech position and just talk to ANY Ultrasound tech and they will tell you that can be an impossible situation at any gestational age. Head down, legs flipped up and wide open is what we were hoping for! Dangit! So on top of a breech baby, our baby also loves to sit cross legged, feet pulled up in between the legs, and occasionally a nice little hand or arm down there in the way. Nine times out of ten all we could see in between were toes or hands...and that's if it was even generous enough to move those legs apart even an inch. So, mom and dad were a little bummed but we still had a great time watching all the movement and taking sweet baby face and feet pictures! Maybe next week! But the best news was that from what I could tell from my little ultrasound eye, the baby looked to be healthy and growing as it should! PTL!

Valentine's day was pretty low key for us, just pasta jacks takeout and TV time at home! Vday was Tuesday but we parlayed our date for Thursday night. We were both off work on Friday and it just seemed to work better. Not to mention the fact that we had a little coupon to use at Loca Luna that would not be accepted on Vday, you know me, always looking for a bargain : ) Loca Luna is a nice little cozy local place that we love to go to. The atmosphere is romantic yet fun and spunky enough for a great happy hour with a group or girls night dinner. And hey, Rachel Ray stopped in and did a show here for "Tasty Travels" years ago. It's also been documented in Southern Living. Not too shabby for our little ol' Capital City of Little Rock. The night we went it was rather loud as there was a very large party seated right next to us...but what's that to an old married couple anyway? We didn't mind! Just nice to get a night out and we are certainly taking as many opportunities as possible until Little O comes along and dictates our night outs to a constant Chick Fil A, McDonald's, or wherever involves kid food and a play palace. Ahhh, life's little progressions....

So I had to share my special Vday gift from my sweet hub! I have to brag a little....he is PERFECT at buying gifts. He never asks what I want for a holiday/birthday. His choices are based on what he has listened to me say that I like or picking out things he thinks I will like. This tends to work out great because I personally think he has great taste or else is super observant and I LOVE surprises, almost more than anything else! I also have to confess that my gifts seem to be lacking in the special surprise department! Sometimes I hit the nail on the head but it takes a lot of thought and a lot of time.

For Vday Jason got me a tin of the most delicious popcorn straight from Chicago! Strange gift I know but last year he went to Chicago for work and I was really bummed that I didn't get to go so in the airport on the way back he picked me up a bag of Garrett popcorn-flavor Cheesy corn. Jason knows I love popcorn, it's definitely my favorite snack. And this was the yummiest popcorn I have ever had! I was thrilled to see it show up in my house again. I'm trying to be real careful about eating it in small doses so that it last a long long time! He also got me a bag of strawberry chocolate swirl Dove candies, a gift certificate for a mani-pedi, and this beautiful sparkly Juicy Couture tote. AHHHHH....JUICY!!! LOVE IT! I'm praying our love affair doesn't have to end when little O comes around due to lack of funds. But if so, so be it! You can still find Juicy on sale, and that's like the best day plus 10!

Also thought I would share a couple photos from our friend outing for my birthday! A little delayed but this is what worked out scheduling wise. Every year for my birthday we get together with the loonies and go to the horse races for a day of fun! It's quite the tradition and we all look forward to it. So fun getting all in the competitive spirit together. Here are some photos from our day at the track

My girls!

Me and J at the track

At Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner

This became a pretty popular form of entertainment for the night, Mandy taking a turn!

Love spending bdays with good friends

Till next time! Pray for Little O to build some confidence and show some gender : )

14 Weeks

How far along? 14 weeks
Weight loss/gain? +7 pounds (found out at my OB appt that 2 pounds can sneak in there real quick!)
Maternity clothes? Nope
Stretch Marks? Nope
Sleep? Fantastic!
Best moment this week? Going to my OB appt. on my 29th birthday, very fitting I thought
Have you told family and friends? The word is definitely out
Miss Anything? Working out and running
Movement? Not yet, I'm on the look out but nothing yet
Food Cravings? Chicken, fruit, and Orange Leaf birthday cake fro-yo....what perfect timing for Orange Leaf to move into Bryant, my pregnancy dream come true!
Anything making you queasy or sick? Ground beef or a lot of meat in general
Have you started to show yet? I can definitely see a little baby bump
Gender Prediction? Boy
Labor signs? No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or moody most of the time? Super happy! Likely because it's February, my favorite month!!!
Looking forward to? Finding out the gender of this babe and getting started on some planning!

SOOO I'm trying a little something different for my weekly pregnancy posts. I found this cute little idea off of Pinterest and I HAD to steal it. If you've seen it, you may already know that mine is not nearly as cute nor will it be! For those who read my blog you will have to settle for my pitiful second hand attempts. But I, at least, wanted to make the attempt. I thought it would be a fun project I could dedicate to. I made the chalkboard myself and was actually REALLY proud of the way it turned out! Here is the finished product right after I got it done.

As soon as I get done using it through pregnancy, it will be hung in our kitchen and used as a weekly menu and planning tool (which we desperately need...I can't tell you how many times we have to re hash each of our schedules each week). Even though my artistic ability is lacking, to say the VERY least, I can't wait to decorate this each week with all the Little O happenings! And if you think my drawing looks like a 1st graders, it does, just don't tell me to my face ; )

Hello 2nd trimester, goodbye forever fatigued!

Not the best belly pic but this is the most I got dressed this week : )

How far along? 13 weeks
Totalweight gain/loss: 5 pounds
Maternityclothes? Still rocking my regular wardrobe
Stretchmarks? Nope
Sleep: Still sleeping great, minus the getting up at least once in the middle of the night for bathroom visit : )
Bestmoment this week: Going on a date night with the hubs to Cajun's and ordering the Boston Casserole (AKA decadent cheesy pasta seafood) with absolutely no guilt or regrets...I seriously made happy food noises with every.single.bite!!!  
Haveyou told family and friends: YES!
MissAnything? Once again, wine on date night....this may be a constant. Going hard core on  workouts and running my tail off, a light jog is taking the place as well as low impact at my workout class
Movement: None that I feel but I see it move like crazy when I ultrasound it. Shocked me the first time I saw a major movement, I couldn't help but smile and stare in awe
Foodcravings: Sweets, fruit, and chicken. And craving salads a lot more which I generally don't care for that much! Also pretty consistent on wanting my morning bowl of cheerios for breakfast.
Anythingmaking you queasy or sick: Ground beef in Mexican
Haveyou started to show yet: Just a little, looks like I could use some toning at the gym and a few less sweets ; )
Genderprediction: Seem to think boy most of the time but no hard core prediction 
LaborSigns: No
BellyButton in or out? In
Weddingrings on or off? On
Happyor Moody most of the time:  Feeling a lot happier, 2nd tri is sooo much better, even with no sickness I can tell a change in the relief of moodiness and fatigue
Lookingforward to: Finding out the baby's gender...I'm having trouble resisting imaging at work since I know I could start playing detective on this babe at any point now!


So this week starts our 2nd trimester, if you didn't already guess by the title ; ) I can't wait to see what this chapter has in store. I have always heard that the 2nd tri is the best and I am really looking forward to seeing for myself. Don't get me wrong, the first could have been way worse, but I am so relieved to get back to feeling like myself. Getting projects and things done at night and not constantly spending my time on the couch or in the bed feeling worthless. This house needs a little TLC in a few areas I've had in mind for a long time. Obviously, I want to get all of this done before the baby gets here so the time is now! Of course, once I know the gender my focus will shift to nursery planning and the like so I figure it's now or never for this ol' house! Since Jason has been done with school and many of his evenings are free again and not dedicated to nightly school work or watching class videos, I'm excited for us to get back into doing things together that we enjoy such as projects for the house and exercise.  As soon as we get past college football recruiting season, maybe I'll have his undivided attention.....on nights that the Razorbacks don't play basketball...and when the new TV show "The River" isn't on....and when "Swamp people isn't on......errrrr....you get my drift! Clearly he has a lot of relaxation time to make up for! No worries, crunch time is a comin' my dear : )


Cheers,
Kelly

12 Weeks

How far along? 12 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 5 pounds
Maternity clothes?  Not Yet
Stretch marks? Nope
Sleep: Better than ever, likely due to my progesterone supplement which I get to stop taking soon, we will see how it goes after that!
Best moment this week: Realizing that we are 3 months into this gig already! 1/3 of the way there, Woo Hoo
Have you told family and friends: Definitely
Miss Anything? Wine at dinner on a date night out for sure!
Movement: Not quite
Food cravings: Lots of fruit and sweets. And chicken for every meal
Anything making you queasy or sick: Ground beef in Mexican dishes, strange I know!
Have you started to show yet: Just a little
Gender prediction: No strong feeling yet but tend to lean towards boy. Either a true indication or else I'm just fully accustomed to baby boys!
Labor Signs: No way, is that even possible this early??
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Extremely moody, rough first trimester in that division
Looking forward to: Getting into the 2nd trimester and finding out if this baby is a he or a she!


I thought I'd add in to this week a few of the items little O has already accumulated! Not much but so super sweet gestures from people kind enough to think of all three of us and commemorate this special time that it's just about enough to make me bawl like a baby!

The darling lil onesie from the Matthews'

First gift ever from dear old dad : )

My first toy from Aunt Mandy, Uncle Justin, and cousin Mason

Since Little O was technically present for Christmas celebrations and did not have a present, Nettie felt bad and bought  a belated Christmas present for O for next years Christmas...How sweet of Nettie huh?!

No gifts yet from your shopaholic mama O, I've taken a vow to not spend until we know if you are destined for pink or blue! At any rate, I've got a feeling this baby will be more than loved! We are already in awe of this little growing miracle!
Till next time!

Cheers,
Kelly

10 weeks

Not much I can say for this week except can I just sleep through the rest of this trimester? This weeks picture should be a great indication of how I'm feeling....too tired to even get dressed for a picture.

And yes I am in my pajamas...I honestly don't even care. I needed to document this week and since I spent the entire week in scrubs or pajamas, I pick the lesser of the two evils!
Not too mug going on this week to speak about. We are just so happy to have the news out in the open and be able to share it with all of our friends and family. I felt like I was keeping a giant secret for the longest time and it was definitely starting to wear on me! Luckily I have had zero morning sickness and other than feeling super tired, I've really been feeling great! Currently going through a little loss of appetite and craving chicken like crazy! So weird, I usually prefer red meat over chicken any day, healthy huh?! But lately I think I've wanted chicken for about every meal. I always wondered how this pregnancy craving thing worked, pretty cool to see it all play out! Till next time!

8 weeks and The Cotton Bowl!

My first week to week pregnancy post! Yahoo!! We are 8 weeks pregnant this week. According to my books and such our little O is doing all kinds of developing this week. Fingers and toes should no longer be webbed, the breathing tubes are extending over the developing lungs, and the best part, the baby's "tail" is almost gone! YAY!!! How freaky would a baby with a tail be, I chose to refer to that as it's rump for lack of a better term. So here I am at 8 weeks along, BTW, no bare belly pics for this mama...I'm not that proud ; )

8 weeks along and getting ready to make the trip to Dallas to watch our Hogs play in The Cotton Bowl!!! YAYYYY!!!!! We had made ourselves a promise to try and make it to the bowl game this year if it was close and within reason expense-wise. Lucky for us, the Hogs got an invitation to play in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas! First of all, I LOVE Dallas! It's not that far from us and has so much to offer for entertainment. It has been a while since we have made the trip but the last time we went we had so much fun. Secondly, our good friends Luke and Millie (Jason's friends from college which I adopted), live in Dallas and making the trip there is just a great excuse to get to spend some time with them. Luke and Millie got married one week after us and we all took our first Anniversary trip together to Playa Del Carmen in August 2010. We always have the best time with them and they are also huge Hog fans having graduated from U of A so they were certainly down to join us for the game!

We made it to Dallas on Thursday Jan.5 and got freshened up for dinner with Luke and Millie. They took us to a local restaurant called The Porch! DELICIOUS!!!! Everyone enjoyed their dinner along with a good glass of wine or a house beer...and I enjoyed my virgin strawberry spritzer sans alcohol. : ( Definitely an adjustment for me but what I didnt miss out on was DESSERT!! After dinner we went to another little restaurant and had a fantastic chocolate cake and creme brulee! YUMMY! Exhausted, we headed back to the hotel shortly after and got some sleep to get pumped up for Game Day the next day. Luke and Millie had to work for a little while on Friday but they were able to get off early and we headed down to Cowboy Stadium to check out some tailgates and what all the stadium had to offer. The stadium was truly AMAZING! Nothing like anything I had ever seen in my life! I was so happy we took the opportunity for an experience like this. Of course, the game was intense and I was literally losing my voice from screaming my head off. I actually got a little worried about the baby the way I was jumping around and getting all ruffled up! We won the game 29-16 over Kansas State and it was definitely SWEET victory!! The crowd was wild!

So after we sat in traffic for about an hour and a half we headed back to drop Luke and Millie off at the their apartment and back to our hotel to crash. Kinda funny but as we drove through Uptown Dallas we were noticing all the people out just for a typical Friday night. Never mind the influence of the big game that just ended. Jason and I talked about what we would've normally done pre-pregnancy in that situation.....the answer is DUH, park the car, get out and walk around and check it all out. I'm sure we would've stopped at one of the little outdoor patio bars and had a few drinks and talked and people watched just the two of us. Usually even if no one was up for going and doing something, we never minded going alone, making the most of any fun opportunities. BUUTTTTT.....fast forward to present day...and pregnancy...and we rolled on past all the nightlife en route to the hotel. The old me would be dying to get out there and see what all was going on, the pregnant me was having visions of laying my head on a pillow and deep sleep since about 9 pm that evening, and by this time, the clock was pushing 2 am...ugh OUT!

We got up the next morning and went and joined Luke and Millie for brunch at Breadwinner's. Another fabulous little Dallas eatery. We had actually eaten there the last time we were in town so I knew I liked it a lot. The brunch was out of this world. I wish I could clone that place and have it built right down the road from my house. Brunch would definitely become my favorite meal of the day! After a yummy meal we said goodbye to Luke and Millie, possibly for an extended period of time as they are getting prepared to move to Spain for 18 months. Luke got accepted in a program through his job at Ernst and Young where he will be working for the company in Spain for awhile. Crossing my fingers this works out for them and is a smooth, safe transition. And I'm so happy that we got to spend some time with them before they left, they always show us a good time up in the big D!! So back to good ol' Arkansas and Saline County we headed. We rushed back to get ready to meet up with all of our friends to go to dinner for Amy's 25th birthday! All in all, a GREAT weekend! Lots of good times and laughs with lots of friends and the Hogs made us PROUD!! Way to go guys, you deserve that big win! Here are some pics from our trip!

Before dinner on Thursday night

In front of Cowboy stadium before the game

I love this picture!

After we won the game! Go HOGS!!!

Luke, Jason, Millie and I

At Breadwinner's for brunch on Saturday

The SWEETEST lil Hog onesie for Little O from the Matthews'

Back home for Amy's birthday dinner at Benihana

All the gang!

Well, that about sums up week 8! Until next time!

Cheers from a virgin spritzer,

Kelly