18 Weeks

How Far Along: 18 weeks and 3 days

Size of Baby: According to The Bump, the baby is about 5.6 inches long and weighs about 6.7 ounces. It's crazy that she's gained over 5 ounces in just four weeks! 

Gender: It's a girl!! Her name is Sadie! Still working on a middle name...

Maternity Clothes: Leggings are still my favorite, but after a ridiculously long search, I found a decent pair of maternity jeans. They are the Luxe brand from Destination Maternity and I love them!

Wedding Rings On/Off: On

Stretch Marks: None yet...I started using the belly butter a couple of weeks ago. I'm using the Mama Bee belly butter by Burt's Bees and I really like it. It's not nearly as greasy as the Palmer's brand I used last time.

Sleep: I'm sleeping great! I'm still taking the minimum dose of the nausea medicine which makes me sleepy, so that helps. I tried skipping the medicine a couple of weeks ago and was nauseated for a couple of days, so I started taking it again. I'm going to try to stop again soon, but I wanted to get through the holidays. Nobody wants to deal with nausea during Christmas! 

Cravings/Aversions: I'm definitely enjoying food again which is wonderful! I don't always know what I want, though. I'll get hungry, but just don't really know what sounds good to me. I can't eat nearly as many sweets as I can when I'm not pregnant which is disappointing. Of course, when I can eat with abandon, sweets don't sound as good as they usually do. 

Symptoms: I'm still feeling pretty good. I had some pretty bad ligament pain consistently for a couple of days, but that's gotten better. I still have it when I get up too quickly, but it's nothing like it was. The only other things going on right now is some congestion (my nose almost always feels stuffy) and my ears plug. I noticed that a few weeks ago and was afraid I was getting sick. It kept happening randomly every day so I looked it up. It's a pregnancy symptom! Who knew?! 

Movement: I've definitely felt her move. It's nothing super strong yet, but it's pretty undeniable. Usually it happens once I lay down in bed for the night. 

Mood: I'm feeling happy! 

What I Miss: I'm missing some of my cute pre-pregnancy clothes. I really haven't bought much new stuff, so I'm getting a little bored with my wardrobe. Other than that, nothing! :)

Looking Forward To: Our next appointment in a couple of weeks! We will have another ultrasound! Can't wait to see this little girl again! 

Best Moment This Week: Hearing Emery talk about "Baby Sadie" is so sweet. We were taking down our Christmas decorations and telling her that Sadie would be here next Christmas and she's been talking about that. I've also been telling her that Sadie loves her already and she's been repeating that. We were talking the other day about Sadie and Emery said, "She loves me." 

  

14 Weeks

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How Far Along: 14 weeks and 2 days

Size of Baby: According to The Bump, the baby is about 3.4 inches long and weighs about 1.5 ounces.

Gender: It's a girl!! We even have a first name picked...Sadie! We put it on our Christmas card, so it's pretty official. :) We're still working on a middle name, though. It took us forever to pick Emery's middle name, too.

Maternity Clothes: Yep. I can get away with several of my pre-pregnancy shirts, but maternity jeans and leggings are a must.

Wedding Rings On/Off: On

Stretch Marks: None yet...I've got to start using the belly butter again!

Sleep: I'm sleeping great! I'm still taking the minimum dose of the nausea medicine which makes me sleepy, so that helps.

Cravings/Aversions: Food is finally sounding good again! Yay!!! I haven't really had any super specific cravings or aversions lately. Lots of things are sounding good to me!

Symptoms: I'm honestly feeling pretty normal compared to the first 10 weeks. I was worried for a while because the first trimester was so hard. The only symptoms I'm really noticing right now is that I get short of breath very quickly and I get tired if I stand too long. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good!

Movement: I feel like I *might* have felt a little something about a week or so ago. It felt like a little worm wiggling around. I'm not sure if it was really her or not, but I think it was. I can't wait for those undeniable kicks and wiggles! 

Mood: I'm feeling happy! And emotional...of course. We were watching the Iron Bowl over the weekend and they did a little tribute to one of the announcers who was retiring. I don't even like this announcer, and I found myself getting teary eyed! 

What I Miss: I have had random thoughts that I'd like a steak, but I don't really like them well done, so I'll have to wait. But it's not like a crazy craving, so I can't say I'm really missing anything too much!

Looking Forward To: Feeling the first "official" kicks!

Best Moment This Week: Starting to feel like myself again has been wonderful!

  

12 Weeks

Click here to see my other weekly pregnancy update posts.

How Far Along: 12 weeks and 3 days

Size of Baby: According to The Bump, the baby is the size of a plum, 2.1 inches long, and weighs about half an ounce.

Gender: It's a girl!! We did the genetic testing which also tests for gender, and we got the results a few days ago. We're so excited to have another sweet girl! And also that we have so much of what we'll need already! Emery said all along that she wanted a baby "bruver", but she seems perfectly fine with having a baby "sisser". :)

Maternity Clothes: Oh yes. My pre-pregnancy clothes are pretty much a thing of the past already. Maternity leggings are my favorite right now.

Wedding Rings On/Off: On

Stretch Marks: None yet

Sleep: My sleep was terrible for a while. A few days before I found out I was pregnant, I started waking up in the middle of the night and it would take me forever to go back to sleep. I'd be wide awake and yet so tired. It was so frustrating!! That pretty much continued until 10 weeks when I had to start taking medicine for nausea. I take the medicine at night and it makes me really sleepy, so that's been helping a lot with my sleep!

Cravings/Aversions: I was dealing with some really bad nausea from about 6-10 weeks (when I started medicine) and hardly anything sounded good at all. Some days I could barely eat toast. I went through a phase around 9 weeks where Arby's roast beef sandwiches were pretty much the only thing I wanted...and I ate them quite often! So weird! I'm normally a big chocolate person and I haven't really cared anything about it...which is disappointing because we had a ton of Halloween candy left. Sour candy is what I've been wanting--Sweet Tarts, Spree, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, Starburst are all favorites right now.

Symptoms: I had terrible fatigue and nausea for a while, but the medicine helped both of those. I'm still tired, but not like a few weeks ago. I get out breath quicker, even though it seems way too early for that. I also had ligament pain a few days ago, but that hasn't been consistent. I'm definitely starting to get to the point where I'm feeling more normal!

Movement: Nothing yet!

Mood: I'm feeling pretty happy! More emotional than normal, but I feel like that's starting to even out, too.

What I Miss: Nothing really right now!

Looking Forward To: We have our next doctor's appointment this Thursday. I'm looking forward to hearing our sweet girl's heartbeat again! We've also ordered a few things for her room, so I'm excited for those things to start coming in.

Best Moment This Week: Finding out that we were having another girl! Listening to that voice mail saying we are having a "happy, healthy girl" was so fun and exciting!

  

Fourth of July Weekend Recap {2016}

I love that Fourth of July was on a Monday this year instead of the middle of the week, but man...I sure do like it better when it's on a Friday or Saturday so we can sleep in a little bit the next day. But we had a super fun weekend!

Emery and Daniel went on a daddy daughter date night a few weeks ago at Chick-fil-A and they both had the best time. She had been asking to "go date on a daddy"  for a few days so Daniel kicked off the three day weekend by taking her on another date.

She wanted to go to "Reddy's" {Freddy's} and get a grilled cheese and "i chume with a cherry on it"!

It makes me sad that she is growing up so fast, but it sure is cute that she's old enough for things like this now.

We took it easy and stayed around the house on Saturday. It was pretty nice outside...hot, of course, but not as humid as it has been lately. Emery *loves* going outside, so we got out the splash park that we got her last year so she could play in the water. She *hated* it last year...

What a difference a year makes!! She loved it! She was a little confused at first...she kept saying "Take shirt off? Take shorts off?" like it was a bathtub. 

She just looks so grown up...

She wanted to push Daddy in the swing...so sweet. 

Time to cool off with a popsicle!

Sunday was another relaxed day. We went to church and then stayed home the rest of the day. Emery even helped fold a little laundry. She asked for a towel and we were shocked when she ended up with this!

Don't be fooled, though...she does way more unfolding than folding!

We started Monday off with a bang and went out for donuts at Krispy Kreme!  Not sure why, but this is the face we get when we tell her to smile! 

Emery loves sprinkles!!

We did a little shopping the rest of the morning and headed home so Emery could take a nap before our big night!

For the last several years, we've gone to my parents' neighborhood for dinner and a fireworks show. It's such a fun tradition! They have a little mini carnival for the kids and Emery got to do the bounce houses. To say she loved it is an understatement! She kept saying, "I bouncing, Mama!!" 

This bounce house started deflating when she was in the ball pit. I about had a panic attack, but it didn't bother her one bit! She didn't want to get out! 

Climbing up the ladder so she could go down the slide!

Taking a little break for some pictures with Mommy and Daddy. This girl and her faces!

Then it was time for dinner. Emery made the rounds and got lots of treats. A little chocolate with Poppa...

And some ice cream with Uncle DJ. 

The girls played together while all the adults talked. They are just too sweet.

Then we headed outside to get a good spot for the fireworks! So excited!

Hanging out with Nana, Poppa, and Uncle Steve while we waited.

Emery and Vanna both got their faces painted while we waited, too! Emery was really excited about it, but was super serious when it was happening.  Emery will pretty much try anything if Vanna does it first!

Then it was time for the fireworks show! Emery was completely fascinated with the fireworks! She kept pointing, naming the colors, and saying "Look, Poppa!"

Watching with Aunt Allie. 

And that's it...another Fourth of July in the books and it was a very sweet one!