Catch Up: Weeks 20-24

Week 20: Baby is the size of a mango!

Highlights: Conference weekend! I say this every time conference comes around, but it really comes at the best time. I love listening to the leaders of our church talk about issues that we face currently and ways to strengthen our faith in this crazy world we live in now. My favorite talk was Saturday afternoon when Elder Cook spoke. If you haven't listened to it, you should! It can be found on LDS.org under General Conference.

Halfway through the week on October 5, we had my 20 week ultrasound! They confirmed it is a girl as best they could see. She was being so stubborn (just like her mama!) and they couldn't get her to roll over or put her arms down. I couldn't believe how much she's developed and how much more you could see. We saw all 4 chambers of the heart, kidneys, bladder, stomach, etc. Her fingers and toes were so much clearer and she was moving around like crazy. Any time they tried to push her one way or another to reposition her she put up a fight and wouldn't let them! It was pretty amusing to me.

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Week 21: Baby is the size of a banana!

Highlights: Dayne and Ashley's sealing! Some good church friends of ours and fellow converts were sealed in the temple on October 8 and Brian and I got to be there to witness it! It was a beautiful ceremony and their three children were sealed to them at the same time. It was the first time I'd been to a live sealing with children and it was so sweet and special. Another fun part of it was that Brian's and my sealer, Brother Schultz was sealing Dayne and Ashley and he had been randomly selected to perform the sealing, so it was fun to see him and hear how he was doing.

Baby highlights: Baby girl is moving like crazy now. Brian keeps poking my belly and singing the popular Adele song, "hello from the outside..."

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Week 22: Baby is the size of a spaghetti squash!

Highlight: Brian officially felt baby girl move and now she does it all the time!

We had our ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat and the chili I made for the cook-off won 2nd place out of 13, so that was fun! I wish trunk-or-treat was more of a thing where I'm from because kids make out like bandits and there's no reason to even trick or treat! After feeling like crap and being in pain all day from my back, I was a total party pooper and didn't dress up, but it was fun anyway. The young women were in charge so we had fun games and face painting for the kids also.

We bought baby girl's dresser so we officially have all the large furniture for her nursery and I've started creating some of the other decor for the walls!

Cravings: LEMON YOGURT. For like the last 5 weeks.

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Week 23: Baby is the size of a papaya!

I had to work Saturday, October 22nd so I had off on Friday which was super nice because it was Brian's day off also. We both slept in and then got some stuff done around the house before going out to lunch together and heading to Target to finish up our registry! It's now done, except for a few small things. I didn't even begin to put any clothes on there because I figured it's pointless and people will give us a ton anyway. Plus we have SO many clothes once she gets bigger from Kevin and Amanda. I started sorting them out but I don't know where I want to put all her bigger sizes...

Time is going so fast (yet so slow) at the same time. I can't believe it's the end of October and we only have 3 1/2 months until baby girl is here. The next couple months are going to be SO crazy busy I don't even know where to begin. The end of the first week of November-end of the 2nd week I will be in southern California for a super fun work trip, so I'm excited for that, but also excited for it to be over so we're closer to the holidays!

Baby news: She's killing me from the inside. Round ligament pain and sciatic nerve issues are real. More than one day this week I was unable to either get out of bed all day or walk more than 100 feet without almost collapsing. I feel massive and I know it's only going to get worse. I'm starting to question why I wanted a baby bump because now when I see a pregnant woman who's bigger than me, my anxiety at the thought that my stomach will soon be that big is out of control. It's taking everything in me to stay positive and optimistic. At least I know at the end of this I'll be holding my beautiful little baby girl and I'll be grateful for that!

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Week 24: Baby is the size of an ear of corn!

Halloween weekend, yay!! I have to be honest and say I didn't do much that weekend except clean and cook and relax (which was super nice). Sunday, I taught YW at church and Brian had lots going on with church and school... I swear we never stop moving. But Halloween day we had a big soup cook-off at work and I made a loaded baked potato soup that won 3rd place! I'm on a roll with soup/chili this year. That night we went to Brian's parents house for Lindy's annual Halloween dinner with both sets of Brian's grandparents which was fun. We stayed to hand out candy for awhile and then decided we were too old and boring and went home to relax and watch tv. And of course, Brian did homework.

Today I went to see the chiropractor to get my back fixed before my big work trip! I'm hoping I'll survive this trip (both physically and mentally since this will be the first time Brian and I have been apart for a night since we got married and I'll be gone over a week). We leave bright and early tomorrow so my next week's post will be much more exciting than these mini-updates. 

On a side note... I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE COMING HOLIDAYS. That is all.

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The Real World: Pregnancy Edition

Disclaimer: I am in no way unaware of how blessed and lucky I am to be pregnant and carry my own child. I am writing this for friends of mine who have asked "what is pregnancy really like?" to share my experiences, and shed light on the fact that it's not always as glamorous as celebrities and fashion bloggers try to portray it to be. The act of having children is a beautiful and miraculous thing, but getting to that point isn't always so...

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I've been thinking about writing this post for weeks but couldn't quite come up with the words to describe it until now. I've feared people would judge me for this because I'm fully aware not everyone can have children and would kill to experience these things to have their own child. I hope everyone reads the above disclaimer and realizes I am extremely happy to be having a baby, but I would be lying if I said there aren't ugly parts of pregnancy, and I'm not even to the gory birth part yet ;) This is not to complain about the hard parts, it's to let other pregnant moms and friends who are thinking about getting pregnant know I'm either sharing their struggles and don't intend to try and make it look perfect, or warn my friends to cherish their bodies now haha.

Many of my close friends know that Brian and I planned on waiting at least a year or more before getting pregnant, but that all changed (literally) the day after we got married. I've always chalked it up to Heavenly Father subtly letting me know that I needed to readjust my plan. Almost immediately after we were married, I became subconsciously obsessed with babies. I would dream about them or think about it constantly and it was really freaking me out. I made it about 3 months before finally telling Brian I couldn't stop thinking about babies. He laughed at me until I started telling him details of the dreams and the weird things that kept happening to me in relation to babies. It was finally him who suggested maybe we should pray about it to see if now was the right time.

I immediately freaked out and didn't want to pray about it, fearing I would receive the confirmation that we should indeed start preparing for children. When we finally decided to, I was surprised that I didn't feel an immediate "YES" kind of response, but the thoughts and feelings I had had before kept steadily increasing and we looked at our timeline of goals and plans and decided we would start trying in May. We were blessed to be given the opportunity to be parents so quickly.

However, there are so many things about being pregnant that I wasn't prepared for. I would look at pregnant women before and think they had the cutest baby bumps, they always dressed so fashionably, and they were truly glowing (like the most common adjective to describe pregnant women EVER). I however, am not in the category of women I mentioned before.

I'm currently sitting here writing this fresh out of a shower and the biggest annoyance I have right now is my face. EVERY DAY since around week 8, I get out of the shower and my face is BEET RED. And it lasts FOREVER. My skin is dry and itchy and I'm constantly scratching my face which only makes it even more red.

No amount of cocoa/shea butter/miracle cream has stopped stretch marks from appearing in the most undesirable places. Growing pains? THAT'S A REAL THING. This past weekend I barely got any sleep because I kept waking up in agony. Round ligament stretching KILLS. The "quickening" that people speak of when the baby starts moving? SO UNCOMFORTABLE FOR ME. It feels like someone is trying to gut me from the inside. And because my placenta is in the front apparently, Brian hasn't really gotten to feel her for the last 4 weeks that she's already been kicking the crap out of me.

I have a weird line horizontally across my middle where my pants would normally sit because all my organs are getting squished up into my stomach while the baby chills on my pelvic bones. That "baby bump" I keep taking pictures of is actually my organs causing me agony. It's so great.

I've developed a fat roll under my boobs and above my stomach, so that's awesome. Hair growth? So not what they tell you it's like. The hair on my head definitely isn't growing any faster but arm hair, leg hair, even my eyebrows? Oh you can bet your bottom dollar they're growing at 3x the speed as before. I basically have to get my eyebrows waxed once a week now. Also I have these weird baby hairs sticking straight out from the top of my head and the front of my hair line. If I do lose a ton of hair after I give birth, I'm basically going to be bald because I haven't gotten anything substantial on top of my head.

I told myself I didn't care how much weight I gained. That it's my first pregnancy and as long as I'm eating healthy that I'll be okay. I've changed my mind. I didn't realize how much my weight weighed (pun intended) on my self-esteem. As someone who has always been extremely active, playing basketball, running, etc., the amount of weight I've gained is absurd to me. Especially since my baby is currently only as big as a spaghetti squash and weighs one single pound.

I thought I owned enough big sweaters/comfy clothes to get me through for awhile. But alas. Maternity clothes are the worst because they're either super ugly or super expensive. Pants are the devil. I bought a pair of maternity jeans and I hate them because my bump isn't big enough to hold up the elastic part so I'm hiking them up all day. I can't sleep in anything but Brian's t-shirts. I'm 100% the basic white girl who wears nothing but black leggings all the time because my squishing organs are giving me mad love handles so I can't wear any of the pants I own. Also, don't even get me started on how uncomfortable sleeping is, in any position. Or on the fact that I wake up in pain every day no matter how I've fallen asleep. I won't go back and reflect on the nausea, you get the point.

I totally took for granted the way my body was before. To people's credit, I did hear that your body is never the same ever again. But I couldn't possibly imagine how true that was. So I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to look or feel beautiful while I'm pregnant, and I'm trying to be okay with that. People don't show how difficult it is growing a baby. The world tries to make these women look glamorous and beautiful and making us feel like that's how we need to be. For 80% of the women I've talked to, "glamorous" and "beautiful" are not words they would use to describe how they feel about themselves right now.

But that's okay. The beautiful parts are the lives we're creating, not the paths we're on to have them. I'll gladly go through this because I know despite all this, I have it pretty easy. I've had what they consider an easy pregnancy: low-risk, and everything always seems in line with how it should be at the time. I'm ecstatic that I get to be a mom and bring another life into this world. But I don't always feel good, either about myself or physically. So for the next friend who sees me and thinks, "wow, you are not glowing..." I hope you've read this and know it's for your own safety that you don't speak those words out loud. :) 

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Gender Reveal & Weeks 18 and 19

Well, the secret is out! Baby GIRL is joining our family! We are so excited. It was really funny because Brian totally predicted it and kept saying he thought it would be a girl. I kept agreeing but when the doctor told us it was a girl, we were both kind of taken aback! I guess we both subconsciously assumed it would be a boy due to the trends in both our families, but like usual, we're never like anyone else haha.

I have to admit I am so excited. Little girls clothes are so cute and I keep finding more and more that I love for the nursery that is strictly "little girl-like." My parents are beyond thrilled, as I knew they would be. Especially since my dad was already texting me every week asking "how is my granddaughter doing?" He thinks he's funny.

It was so fun to have family and friends over for the gender reveal and Lindy and Sabra did so much for us! We had balloon popping with blue and pink paint inside for the kids to play with, super cute blue and pink food, mustaches and bows for everyone to wear their guesses, and then when it came time for the big reveal, we had pink confetti in black polka dot balloons that we let go and everyone shot them down with BB guns! We are so lucky to have had so many family and friends come out and support us and Baby B. We're already feeling the love so much and we're so blessed.

Week 18: Baby is the size of a sweet potato!

On Friday when we had the gender reveal BBQ, it was actually my first day of week 18, so that was an exciting start to announce it to the rest of family and friends! Even though I didn't actually put it on social media until Sunday... It was a super busy weekend though and Brian and I spent most of Saturday down in Salt Lake for my friend Jordan's endowment in the Draper Temple. Every time I think life is settling down, it proves it's not! But oh well, it keeps us on our toes.

This week I started really noticing all my slowly developing aches and pains. My round ligaments are apparently stretching..? And they love to give me random sharp pains all over my sides which is just super awesome. I feel like my whole body is ballooning and I'm a tub of lard because I haven't been able to work out like I used to before. I'm trying to be okay with it but I would be lying if I didn't say I hate it AND my uber round face. It's no bueno.

Week 19: Baby is the size of a tomato (what the heck, that's smaller than a sweet potato in my opinion...)

Either way, baby girl is definitely getting bigger and it's getting harder for me to hide the bump. On Friday, the first day of week 19, we were down in Salt Lake again for Jordan's wedding at the SLC temple and for the first time, someone that didn't already know asked if I was pregnant. Granted I had just eaten about 5 lbs of Brazilian food at Tucanos, but I was happy someone finally noticed!

This week's chronic pain is in my back which I think will be a continuing trend thanks to my scoliosis. The right side of my back will begin aching so bad and feel so cramped by about 7 or 8 pm every night that Brian has to massage it out or I literally writhe around on the bed in pain and can't fall asleep until he does.

The great news is I can finally cook again! I made a delicious dinner of lemon pepper salmon and parmesan garlic asparagus tonight complete with peach cobbler for dessert. But the most exciting thing to happen this week is that we finally got the crib and glider and set those up! I spent a lot of Friday night and Saturday morning moving everything out of Brian's office to make room to make it into the nursery and Brian set all the furniture up that morning. Now we get to start on the fun part: decorating! But it is somewhat comforting that I don't have to worry about anymore of the big furniture, other than a dresser, despite the fact that we have a lottttt of other things to get. Baby steps!

I also got in the autumn spirit with the cool weather front that came in and started doing a little decorating. Out with the summer, in with the fall! I just love boots and sweater weather. I'm excited but also nervous because I feel like the next 4 1/2 months are going to fly by and baby will be here soon! We are so excited and I'm so blessed to have Brian. He's so supportive and enthusiastic about this that it makes me even more excited. We have so many wonderful things going for us!

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Normal Life These Days & Baby: Weeks 16 & 17

Week 16: Baby is the size of an avocado!

Baby news... This week has been interesting. I have a day where I feel wonderful and then the next I'm totally exhausted. The nausea hasn't been bad at all and I'm able to eat more, even though my diet cannot be considered healthy in any way. I've decided I don't care how much weight I gain for this pregnancy and I'll take it as it comes. The first one is a learning process anyway, right?

I forgot to take a picture this week because on Sundays (when I usually take photos because I'm actually dressed up and looking semi-professional for church) I was dying and exhausted and didn't make it out of bed until 4 pm. Probably because I attempted to do too many things the following day. But I was highly pleased with our Labor Day weekend project of painting cabinets! Originally we were just going to do the kitchen cabinets but then I convinced Brian to do the bathroom cabinets as well, since the project wasn't as time consuming as we originally feared. 

I did so much research trying to decide what the best way to paint them would be.. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the cabinets, in fact they were in almost perfect condition, but the problem was the color. When we bought our house and ripped out the disgusting carpet and linoleum in the downstairs and replaced it with our beautiful dark hardwood flooring,the contrast between the light oak cabinets and the dark floors drove me insane... because I'm OCD like that.

I covered for a co-worker and worked all day Saturday, so when I got off work on the 3rd, Brian and I met at Home Depot and got the supplies and our paint selection! I had looked at so many different options for milk paint vs. sanding and painting vs. deglossing and painting, etc. After talking with a guy about what he's seen work best for people, we opted for the deglossing and painting, which worked out amazingly! Because you're supposed to paint within a certain number of hours after stripping the cabinets, we wound up taking all the cabinet doors off, stripping the base and fronts and backs of cabinets, and painting everything with once coat Saturday night. We got everything finished up on Monday (Labor Day), including both bathroom cabinets which took probably 20 minutes each total. I am SO happy with how they turned out! I'll have to post before and after photos here.. 

Week 17: Baby is the size of a turnip! (Which what size is that really? Turnips are all shapes and sizes.... but whatever)

This week has been so much better. I've still been tired, but it's been more manageable. I taught Young Women's on Sunday and we had a birthday party for Grandpa Daylong on Monday. AND I remembered to take a picture. Saturday I even got a little motivation to do some crafting for Halloween and I re-potted some festive autumn mums to decorate the porch. I cannot wait until it starts getting cold and I can decorate for fall and Halloween! I am soooo excited for colder weather, probably because being pregnant and sick during the summer was a terrible idea. Never again if I have control over it.

Let's see what else has been going on... Brian is back in school finally starting his last year. So that also means he's back to working 2 jobs: his internship and the insurance office. It's nice that they wanted to keep him on at his internship and he actually added another position with them in their finance department on top of the contracts work he already does. Brian being Brian is still determined to work full-time with them on top of school and doing the health insurance for the office, so he puts in 12-13 hour days in SLC on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Sometimes it's rough not seeing him as much but I work late on Wednesdays anyway so it's manageable. 

Every week I try to organize the garage and spare bedroom more and more so we can combine the office stuff into that room when we start planning the nursery! Our crib came in the mail and I've ordered the glider, so I'm getting so excited, but I haven't actually cleared out what will be the nursery... I'll start adding photos once that happens.

In even more exciting news.... WE FOUND OUT BABY'S GENDER!

On Wednesday, I had a GREAT day. First I had a dentist appointment and was told I still don't have a cavity, which I'm extremely proud of ;)

But then we had our baby appointment! At first, our doctor wasn't going to do an ultrasound, for the first time since we've started going there. but I had to know.... especially since we had a family BBQ planned for Friday! So we were able to hang out for an additional 20 minutes after our appointment and find out! I'm not going to lie, it was stressful planning the gender reveal party!

First, we waited until Wednesday to buy all the food in case we didn't find out and had to change the date of the party. I work Wednesdays and Thursdays evening shifts, so I was up early every morning and up late every evening making food and getting ready.

Luckily I have the best mother-in-law and best friend who did SO MUCH to set up for the party and have all the props. Sabra made the cutest bows and mustaches on pins so everyone could "wear their guess," we had a photo booth, paint balloon popping (with blue and pink paint), and then the big reveal! We put confetti in black polka dot balloons and let them go and people shot them with BB guns! Which then led to blowing up multiple balloons and letting everyone shoot them with the guns.

We will be revealing on social media tomorrow Baby B's gender, so stay tuned!

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Baby Baldwin: Weeks 14 & 15

 

Week 14

Baby is the size of a LEMON!

 

This week was eventful! We had a family reunion for Brian's mom's side of the family and we all went camping up at Memorial Park from Thursday-Saturday.

Camping this time was much more enjoyable than Girl's Camp and Moab! Maybe because our campsite was shady with the river flowing past it, and we spent all day on Friday at Pineview in the water, but it was much more relaxing and I definitely felt less nauseous... except for Friday afternoon when I got a little overheated. Overall, I think the weekend was good, but apparently my stomach isn't a fan of the canyon roads anymore because on our way home, Brian had to pull over a block from our house because I couldn't wait to throw up my lunch. Oh well, it was a valiant attempt.

I can't believe in just a few short weeks we'll be finding out if this baby is a boy or girl!

I think that's what we're most excited about. It's so funny to listen to Brian talk about girl's names he likes because he's so critical of them. But then again so am I, so I have no room to talk! :)

I'm still exhausted all the time and there's been many nights where I just come home and fall asleep by 5:30 and sleep until the next morning... Poor Brian.

I'm excited to have more strength and energy!

 

Week 15

 

Baby is the size of a NAVEL ORANGE!

I was so proud of myself this weekend because I regained some of my former social life and actually made it a whole Saturday without a nap, AND I went to Maegan's baby shower and Jordan's bridal shower.... IN THE SAME DAY! (It's the little things once you're preggo!)

It's official. Florida has been canned. But in the long run it was probably a blessing in disguise because I was able to put all the money towards our flights home for Christmas, ultimately saving us a lot of money on travel this year.

*Side note: Southwest Airlines is the best. No change or cancellation fees, even their cheap flights can be cancelled and the funds used for future travel, and they're usually the cheapest and you don't have to pay for baggage. Can you tell I'm partial? ;) *

So, now our flights for Christmas are taken care of and I am definitely less of a worrywart!

This week I've been feeling a lot better. I'm still really tired but not to the extent that I was between weeks 10-13. I've minimized the throwing up to a couple times a week instead of a few times a day, and I'm looking at the light at the end of the tunnel!

I've officially started my Baby List registry because not having things more organized has been driving me nuts, and I have almost all the nursery furniture picked out!

I feel like we have so much going on and so many things in the works but nothing else is concrete yet, so I don't want to spill any of it!

We're still looking forward to finding out Baby Baldwin's gender the most, and we've started planning the gender reveal party :) Many thanks to Sabra and Lindy who I know will do all the work and make it incredible, even if it is supposed to be a casual BBQ haha.

I think that's all the updates I have... if I'm forgetting things I'll blame pregnancy.

The photo above was taken on Sunday, August 28. If I take the weekly pictures on Sundays, I'm already dressed up and forget less often. But after Brian took this photo I remember thinking "OH MY GOSH I DEFINITELY LOOK PREGNANT NOW!'

Luckily, (or unluckily?) as of yesterday I've only gained 1 lb. since my 12 week baby appointment.

I'll just keep reminding myself of that! 

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The Beginning of Baby Baldwin

Well, if you're reading this, I guess we finally spilled the beans! It feels like I've already been pregnant forever but unable to tell anyone about it. But I guess it's only been a little over 3 months. Still, it's crazy to think its been that long!

With all the craziness that is our everyday lives, Brian and I thought a lot (& prayed a LOT!) about when would be the best time for us to begin our little family. We've both switched jobs in the last 3 months, we've been crazy busy with church and just every day life, and now we have even bigger changes heading our way. Brian has been looking into Master's programs for after he graduates this upcoming April, and with that comes a lot of planning. We knew we didn't want to worry about potentially moving for grad school while I was pregnant and I didn't want to worry about missing his graduation if the baby was too little or not here, so we decided the beginning of 2017 would be a good time, and that's how Baby Baldwin's due date is February 18, 2017!

I jotted down notes as soon as I started feeling different, because weeks 1-6 were highly uneventful. We found out for sure I was pregnant at 4 weeks because I was impatient, and we were going camping in Moab and I decided I had to know before that. The test came back positive and the following Monday I went to the doctor to verify and the blood tests came back positive!

Week 7: baby is the size of a blueberry!

TERRIBLE nausea started hitting after getting stomach flu. The Friday before the 4th of July, I was at work and suddenly was running for the bathroom and threw up everything I had consumed in the last 10 hours. I thought morning sickness was already starting but it turns out there was a stomach flu circling around the office and I was the 4th person to come down with it. However, as soon as I was starting to feel better, the flu set off the true morning sickness. From then on, I was constantly nauseous, but not throwing up too much... until week 8. I was craving juicy fruits like watermelon, strawberries, and peaches, probably because I was ALWAYS thirsty. This also marked the start of being SO TIRED. Prior to week 7, I had no problem keeping food down or any food aversions. Just really sleepy a lot. Started retaining water and feeling a bit heavier but hadn't gained any weight. Skin got burnt a lot easier, especially starting week 4 when we were in Moab. We went on some really long hikes to the far away arches when we were down in Arches National Park and when we got back to the car, my fingers and ankles were so swollen I couldn't close my hands and I could tell I was somewhere between retaining water and being seriously dehydrated. It was my first wake up call that I would need to start drinking about double as much water now that I was pregnant.

Week 8: baby is the size of a raspberry!

This week was so surreal. I finally got a presciption to help with the nausea when we went for our first baby appointment. I was holding my breath, half expecting the doctor to start the ultrasound and tell me I wasn't pregnant because it didn't feel real. But there was baby, looking very similar to a gummy bear. I couldn't believe it but we were already able to hear the strong & crazy fast heart beat! Other weird things about this week was that I was hardcore craving Mexican food, but I was still throwing up a ton so I don't know why I thought Mexican sounded good... I pulled muscle in my back throwing up on the morning of my first appointment so that was a joy. I was hobbling around in serious pain for about 4 days before it started to subside. I was veryyyy tired all the time. Still always thirsty, but not dehydrated according to the doctor. We made a decision to cancel the Bahama's cruise we had booked back in March due to the spreading Zika virus. Although it hasn't been reported there yet, it's in Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and basically every other island around it. Luckily I bought the insurance and we got a full refund for cancelling far enough in advance.

Week 9: Baby is the size of a green olive! 

I guess I really am my mother's daughter because even after getting the prescription from the doctor for nausea, I was hesitant and tried everything I could to avoid taking it. Alas, all the ginger in the world in every form couldn't help my sensitive stomach and I finally caved when I realized I was only able to eat and keep things down with the medicine. The new trend was throwing up in the mornings when I was brushing my teeth. I apparently have the most sensitive gag reflex ever now. I didn't have any specific food aversions or cravings other than not wanting heavy foods or dairy. No interest in meat like chicken or roast. Exhaustion like usual. Noticing hair growing a lot faster and have to shave my legs like every other day. My hair on my head is growing faster too and seems a little thicker.

Week 10: Baby is the size of a prune!

VERY tired this week. More than usual, and it hits me hard around 4-5 PM every day, to the point where if I don't take a nap, I'm ready to throw up and my body aches. Once I wake up though, I'm totally wrecked like I always used to be when I would nap prior to being pregnant. For awhile I could nap without any issues and wake up feeling great but not anymore. Clothes are getting tighter and it's not fun trying to find something to wear. I only want to wear baggy clothes or nothing at all. Apparently the placenta is forming and this is the most tired I've been since this pregnancy started. Poor Brian, because all I ever do is fall asleep when I get home and sleep until the next morning. He's started coming up, tucking me in since I've passed out sprawled across the bed, turning off the lights, and playing videos downstairs until it's actually a respectable time to sleep and then coming back up. No cravings whatsoever this week and no interest in eating at all. Haven't gained any weight.

Week 11: Baby is the size of a lime!

Week 11 was pretty brutal. My nausea came back in full force, stronger than it was weeks 7-8. I tried everything under the sun from raw ginger, in smoothies and on it's own, ginger chews, candied ginger, and finally broke down and had to take the prescription the doctor had given me at my week 8 appointment again. But, to no avail. I kept telling myself I could make it to my week 12 checkup, and I made it.... just barely. I threw up every single day of week 11. During this time I also had to suffer through some time at Girl's Camp. Normally I would have loved every second of it (which I sort of did), I just didn't love how I felt. I was bloated and nauseous and the heat only compounded everything. When I got home my ankles were swollen and I'm pretty sure I got a little dehydrated and I threw up all day the next day. Not a pleasant time in my pregnancy. Cravings this week consisted mostly of Watermelon slushies from Sonic.

Week 12: Baby is plum-sized! (Which my dad says still isn't golf ball sized yet)

I survived through the first part of the week and had my 12 week check up at 12 weeks & 5 days. They prescribed me a different prescription and so far it has helped me keep things down and reduce the nausea as much as possible so that I actually have an appetite. Cravings this week was pretty much limited to KFC mashed potatoes and gravy. Which is funny since the potatoes are instant and have zero nutritional value, but whatever, I kept them down. At least my cravings have been cheap things as opposed to filet mignon or something that would rob me blind, I left my week 12 appointment at the doctor's totally livid. A few weeks ago we decided to cancel our Bahamas cruise that was planned for the end of September due to the spread of the Zika virus that's hitting every country around the Bahamas currently. The plan was to fly to Orlando, go on our cruise, then head to Tampa for a few days after the cruise. Luckily we had only purchased our flights home from Tampa. After checking flights for awhile, we finally bought a flight to Tampa and began planning out how to spend our vacation in Florida instead. But when I went into my 12 week appointment and was asking about X-ray machines at the airport, my doctor informed me I should not be going to Florida due to the Zika outbreaks. I had only heard of it being in Miami but apparently it's slowly spreading all over the state. On top of the fact that Baby Baldwin was wriggling around so much that none of our ultrasound photos showed anything AT ALL but fuzziness, I left pissed off and an emotional mess, which I'm blaming on pregnancy. Not that I blame my unborn child and I definitely don't want to risk it, but I am so sick of stupid Zika, ruining all my babymoon plans. I still haven't cancelled the flights but I'm coming to terms with it and probably will in the next week or two. Hopefully we can put the money toward flights home for Christmas, since this year we're east coast bound.

And now we're in week 13 and apparently Baby Baldwin is peach sized, which is one of my favorite fruits so I like week 13. And this marks the last week of my first trimester which is SO crazy to think about. Can't believe I'm 1/3 of the way there! I think the best part of this milestone is finally being able to start telling people and make our big social media announcement, AND Brian will finally let me start buying things for the nursery! It's crazy to think at my next check-up I could find out if it's a boy or girl! I already have almost all the nursery furniture picked out, the theme, and a lot of baby products.. I'll probably start putting together a registry insanely early to make sure I don't forget anything I think I need and use it as a checklist as I start buying. Oh, here's more funniness. For anyone that knows me, you know I'm basically insanely OCD and I'm the biggest planner on the planet. I love planning parties, showers, etc. So, now I've got like everything for this unborn child planned out and it's been that way since week 6 because I can't help myself. Pregnancy has only made it worse, but oh well! 

So here's our big announcement, we're so excited!

Love,

The Baldwin's

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Brian's Birthday & June 2016

Well, I'm a HUGE slacker. I can't believe I haven't posted on this thing in a month! But there's a good reason for that. June was a busy month for us!

For starters, the beginning of the month I had an incredible opportunity to do laundry at the temple. You're probably laughing at me and rolling your eyes as to why I think doing laundry is amazing, but doing it at the temple is something else. The machines are so big and they have such orderly and precise ways of doing everything... my OCD was very pleased.

The following week was Brian's birthday weekend, and I kind of like to have birthday WEEKS instead of days or weekends..... So we finally took a long overdue camping trip to Moab! But before that we celebrated on Wednesday with Kirk and Lindy and went boating/wakeboarding at Pineview, per request of the birthday boy. We left Friday afternoon and drove down to Moab, got our camp set up and crashed. It had been a very long week which only felt longer since it was my last week as the marketing director for Smith Knowles Attorneys (SURPRISE! This is the news I mentioned in my last post). Awhile back I had thought about exploring some other options. The law firm is so incredibly busy all the time that my job was unnecessary. I loved working there with incredible bosses and the best coworkers, but sometimes you just know when it's time to move on. I had looked occasionally but never found a position that I didn't make an excuse for. Either it didn't pay enough or I didn't like the hours or I felt it wasn't "prestigious" enough. No matter what, I always found a reason to say no once they offered me the job. So I stopped looking. And like all good things, when you stop looking for them, they come to you. While we were on vacation on the east coast visiting family, I received a phone call from Get Away Today Vacations in South Ogden. They had kept my resume on file until they were hiring and wanted to call me in for an interview. I called them back and scheduled the interview, not thinking much about it. After the interview, I felt really good about the job and told Brian I wanted to talk about it that night in case they called back next week and offered me the job. But I didn't get the opportunity because they called me 2 hours later to extend the job to me! I was so excited, but that night I was so stressed out. I didn't know what to do or what was the right decision. I worried about leaving the law firm and starting something new, and had so much anxiety I almost didn't take it. But the next morning when I called back, I felt I should take it. Soooo I am not a reservations agent for their company and so far I'm loving it! I mean, I plan people's vacations for a living (which I was basically doing with all my friends anyway) so it's a dream come true!

But anyway, back to Moab. Saturday we got up early and spent the whole day at Arches National Park, hiking to all the major landmarks and arches and taking a million photos. We both got sufficiently sun burnt before we called it a day at Arches and drove to Dead Horse Point State Park for a little leisurely sightseeing (without the hiking). I'll upload lots of pictures because the majority that I took were from that day!

Sunday was Brian's actual birthday, so we went and got a big breakfast before setting out for mountain biking. We had a slight mishap with the tire pump and wound up not riding very far at all, and decided to call it a day and make our way home. We took the scenic route home to go past the Manti temple and got home early enough to take a nap before dinner and go see Brian's grandparents that evening.

The 13th, Brian started his new position at Northrop Grumman in Salt Lake City and it's been an interesting job for him. He works long hours (usually 7 AM-5 PM) and I honestly couldn't tell you what they've had him doing. At least he has off every other Friday. He's been such a champ fitting in health insurance appointments as well and summer school is still keeping him busy. BUT he passed the hardest class in the business school with an amazing grade and I am so happy he's finally done! It consumed so much of his life and he was so stressed. Hopefully the rest of these summer classes will be a breeze, and then JUST ONE MORE YEAR! 

The following week I officially started at Get Away Today and had a week and a half of training on the systems before we finally got to start helping clients. It was a veryyyy long 2 weeks! 

The 4th of July was super fun because Kevin & Amanda and the kids came up for a long weekend! Thursday the 30th of June we went boating and BBQing up at Pineview. Friday Brian headed to Lagoon with all his family. I was supposed to be working all day but came home halfway through the day with a stomach bug that was being passed around our office. It kept me laying around the entire weekend and the most adventurous thing I did was lounge in the pool because the cool water helped keep the nausea away. Monday on the 4th I started feeling a little better so Brian and I headed up to Bear Lake for the day with Kirk and Lindy to see Brian's aunt and uncle who have a house up there. The lake is so pretty with it's turquoise water and their home is the cutest beach house you've ever seen! It was nice to have a long weekend, I just wish I had been feeling better!

Luckily this week went pretty quickly since it was only a 4 day work week, and now it's the weekend! I wasn't sure when I would get around to this thing again so I figured I better update it before it was too late and I was forgetting things! (Even though I know I already am...)

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

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