29-30 Week Recap

I'll be 30 weeks tomorrow! I had a couple people ask me today how far along I was, and it was so crazy to say 30 weeks, I mean it might as well be 40! 

I went to the doctor today for my regular check up, I'm going every 2 weeks now. I've been uncomfortable the last few days but haven't thought much about it, until the doctor told me Joshua is breeched again. Which explains why I feel like I can barely lean forward or bend down without feeling very uncomfortable. I'm hoping he moves soon!

So last night some friends offered to watch Paige, while Daniel and I had a date night out! We went to dinner and then Starbucks. Daniel ordered his coffee and then I ordered my decaf Toffee Nut Latte. The barista looked at me and asked if I was pregnant. I said yes, and then he said he couldn't serve me coffee because it was "not appropriate or unsuitable." I was pretty shocked. I kept telling him it's okay, I was ordering decaf. However, he would not be swayed!!! I told him I've been to Starbucks many times and never had a problem. It wasn't until I told him that my doctor knows that I drink coffee, that he finally caved and agreed to sell me coffee! (sidenote, my local doctor doesn't know i drink coffee, but that's not neither here nor there!) :) I wasn't angry, but I was so shocked that he wouldn't sell me coffee just because I was pregnant!

Here are my stats:

How Far Along: 30 weeks

Size of Baby: Small Cabbage-17 inches long and about 2 1/2-3 lbs

Weight Gain: 21 lbs. My goal was to stay at 30 lbs for this pregnancy, so I think i'll be pretty close.

Gender: Boy-Joshua O'Dell

Movement: Yes, all the time. He is usually a daytime mover, but he's been moving more at night lately.

Sleep: It's getting a little better. I still wake up a lot to change positions or move pillows-and it isn't easy to roll over anymore!

Maternity Clothes: yep-even though my skirt in the picture and the sweater I wore today are my regular clothes

Symptoms: Hunger, i've been so hungry lately!

Aversions: not much...

Cravings: Food-hot chocolate and lays regular potato chips

Since I'll be having a scheduled c-section, only 9 more weeks to go!!!

25-28 Week Recap

I'll be 29 weeks on Wednesday. And to be honest, that is freaking me out a little bit! I'm not sure why I felt way more prepared when I had Paige, and this time I feel like nothing is ready and that I'm running out of time before little Joshua gets here.

Here are a few pics to recap:                

  25 Weeks

26 Weeks

Week 27 I got a stomach bug and lost almost 5 pounds. It was pretty miserable. But don't worry, I went to the doctor this week and I gained it all back :)

Week 28

I feel MUCH bigger than I look!

Joshua was breech for a little bit, and that was severely uncomfortable. But thankfully he has turned and I'm hoping he stays head down. It doesn't matter too much because I'm having a c-section, but breech baby kicks are not fun.

Here are the stats at 28 weeks:

How Far Along: 28 weeks

Size of Baby: Head of cauliflower, 16 inches long, 2.5 lbs

Weight Gain: 20 lbs

Gender: Boy-Joshua O'dell

Movement: All day long. Paige was more of a night mover, but Joshua parties all day long and is pretty quiet at night.

Sleep: eh.....this week has been the hardest. I just can't seem to get comfortable and my hips and back hurt when I lay down.

Maternity Clothes: yes-I still wear some of my regular yoga pants and t shirts

Symptoms: Increased appetite, begin tired

Aversions: Nothing really

Cravings: Salt-I've been eating Lays potato chips like crazy.

What I Miss: Sleeping well and running.

What I'm Looking Forward to: This isn't related to Joshua, but I'm really looking forward to Christmas with Paige. She's pretty clueless about it all, but it's fun to see her get excited about the Christmas tree or play with her Little People Nativity. I can't wait to have two little babies to celebrate with next year!

Best Moment this Week: Daniel traveled out to the mountains this past week, so Paige and I had a lot of good extra quality time.

Paige at 21 Months

Paige is 21 months! I keep referring to her as almost 2, so when I say 21 months, it really doesn't sound too old :) Of course, this post is a little late, and now she's almost 22 months.

Here she is enjoying thanksgiving dinner! She mostly just ate the jello and bread though.

We don't have a grassy area or playground in our apartment complex, so before the weather got too cold, we were going out pretty regularly to play. Paige is a little celebrity here and people love to take her picture. This one day, an older man started taking her picture and she quickly posed for him.

This girl!

As I mentioned the weather is getting cold here....this is us heading out the other day. I call her my little marshmallow!

Poor thing can barely move in all her clothes-she reminds me of the little boy from the Christmas Story!

These last 3 months have been full of change for Paige and she has done really well! She eats the local food really well-tonight she had 5 servings of noodles! She can also walk up and down the stairs at our apartment pretty good. Our days don't always look the same, but I still try to keep a loose schedule. We were going out to play or run errands most mornings between 10-12. It's gotten pretty cold and gross out lately, so it's harder to do that now. I took her to the playground this week, but she was so cold and had a hard time playing with her big coat on. So i'm thinking of ways to give her some good playtime that doesn't include frostbite, ha. 

We took Paige to the doctor twice this week-she had a double ear infection and a really bad cough. She's better now, but still has the cough and and runny nose. She is on breathing treatments, but I can't really tell if it's working or not. I hope she gets back to 100% pretty soon! Even though i've enjoyed the snuggles and yesterday she fell asleep in my arms-which hasn't happened in forever! Since we were at the doctor, I actually know her stats this time!

21 Month Stats:

Weight: 24 lbs...she hasn't even gained a full pound in the past 3 months. That's so crazy to me.

Height: 33 inches/82 centimeters

Size Diaper: Pampers XL, Fuzzibunz Large, and BumGenius OneSize. We actually tried potty training a few weeks ago. It didn't go well, so we are waiting a bit. 

Size Clothes: 18-24 months, with a few 2T shirts

Size Shoes: 4 1/2

Teeth: 16, still waiting on the last molars to come in

Words: Tons.....she jabbers all the time. There are definitely times where she is saying something and I have no clue what it is. And she loves to sing! It's really adorable. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and will "talk" for a few minutes to a few hours! 

Sleep: We changed her bedtime to 8pm, so she gets up in the morning between 7:30-8:30. Since she's been sick, there have been days where I wake her up at 8:45 or 9. Her naps are usually from 1-3, give or take a half hour. She's also in her toddler bed and hasn't fallen out since the first week! She still stays in bed until we come get her....I'm shocked it hasn't occurred to her yet that she could get out of bed if she wanted. But I'm loving that she hasn't figured it out yet.

Food: There are days she eats tons and days where she won't hardly eat anything. For breakfast we still rotate between eggs and oatmeal. She loves all dairy products, fruits, meat, and soups. I gave her apple juice as a treat when we tried potty training and she's had a lot this week too. They don't have liquid antibiotics here, so she gets a powder mixture dissolved in water and juice. 

She loves playing tea party, being read to, helping me cook, bathtime,  and playing outside. 

That's Paigers at 21 months!

22-24 Week Recap and Name Reveal

I feel like it's been a big 3 weeks for our little boy! I am feeling him move all the time, and it's so strong I can feel specific parts of his body-not sure if it's an arm or a leg, but he pokes out a lot and lets me know he is in there!

24 Weeks

Here is 24 weeks with Paige:

I'm pretty sure baby boy had a growth spurt during week 23-I was hungry all the time and really felt like I grew overnight. My appetite comes and goes, there's times where I am starving and then times where food just doesn't sound that great. I think I feel less hungry when he's sitting higher up and making me uncomfortable, ha!

Before we get to the stats, here is our little boy's name:

Joshua O'Dell

When I was pregnant with Paige, before we knew she was a girl, we had decided that for our boys middle name, we wanted to use O'dell after Daniel's grandfather, who was James O'Dell, but went by O'Dell. Daniel lost his grandpa not too long ago. We are so thankful that we already knew we were having a boy and were able to tell him that our little boy would carry on his name. Paige's middle name is Olivia, and I really like that our children will both have O middle names.

We didn't have anything picked our for the first name, so after throwing several around we realized that we both really liked the name Joshua, which means God Is Salvation. 

We keep asking Paige where Baby Joshua is and she always points to her belly. She also calls him Baby Joshie, which is pretty darn cute. 

We also had a 4D ultrasound last week:

He has Daniel's nose!

Here are the stats for week 24:

How Far Along: 24 Weeks (almost 25)

Size of Baby: Ear of Corn-about 1 1/2 lbs, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was bigger!

Weight Gain: Maybe 14-15 lbs? 

Gender: Boy-Joshua O'Dell

Movement: YES! I'll have a day where he doesn't do too much, but for the most part he is wiggling and kicking a lot

Sleep: It's not too bad actually. I still wake up tired and have had some back and hip pain, but nothing like what I had with Paige

Maternity Clothes: All pants and most shirts. I still wear my regular t shirts though. 

Symptoms: A little heartburn, increased appetite and just feeling "heavy"

Aversions: Not really anything

Cravings; Sweets, coffee, and I'm dying for a huge gooey cinnamon roll!

What I miss: Not much, maybe sleeping on my back and stomach

What I'm Looking Forward to:  Not sure....my mom is bringing the nursery stuff when she comes in February so there really isn't much for me to do right now. I guess just continuing to have a healthy pregnancy and feel my little one move!

Best Moment of the Week: Daniel and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary yesterday! We went out for dinner and a movie and had the best time!

Change is a knockin'

We've been here in East Asia for over a month. We've been in our apartment a few weeks and it's mostly set up. We are using the nursery as storage right now for anything we just haven't found a place for yet. I also haven't hung anything on the walls yet....but it feels like home and we like it!

Paige has adjusted very well! She LOVES all the local food and I've been going through stain remover for all the oil on her clothes like crazy!

And she loves noodles! There have been a few times that she out-eats me! 

Paige is doing great at learning her manners at home too.

One of the adjustments here is learning a new schedule. Most mornings after breakfast, Paige does blanket time for 20-30 minutes while I check email and do some computer work. She does really well at blanket time! We've also started room time, which is not going as well. She doesn't really like it, but I'm determined to make it work! 

Paige has started 'helping' me in the kitchen too. We made poppy seed bread last week and granola bars today. I love this face!

This week was also a big transition for Paige and us! We took the side off of her crib and she's in a real toddler bed right now! We want to give her plenty of time to get used to the toddler bed before going to her new big girl bed (which will be a daybed) before the baby comes. She has done 3 naps and 2 nights in her bed already and did great!

So far she lays down and goes right to sleep! She did fall out of bed once (I actually watched it on the monitor), but I have my body pillow on the floor, so she just rolled off and got right back in bed. The absolute CUTEST thing is that when she gets up from her nap or in the morning, she goes to her bedroom door (which is closed and she can't yet open) and knocks. She just knocks and waits for us to come get her. I don't know why she knocks instead of just calling out for us, but it's so dang cute! 

I was so worried that Paige would get out of bed and not go to sleep that it never occurred to me that she might start getting out of bed early! She's been sleeping till about 7:30-7:40, and the last couple of mornings she was up at 7:15, so not too bad. 

Last weekend we went to a fall festival that some other foreign friends hosted. I LOVE Halloween! and I'm competitive...and I might have taken it a little too far with some of the candy games. Oh well, at least Paige looked so adorable in her Packer cheerleading outfit!!! 

We tried to make it a family theme!

We had a picnic lunch....

and a parade!

That is some of our life here in Asia....stay tuned for pregnancy update week 23!

Pumpkins and Parties

This post is about our last week in the States before heading here to Asia. We drove back to my parents house on Friday night, and then my sister (who flew up the day before) and I gave my mom a surprise 60th birthday party that Saturday.

She actually had no idea and was genuinely surprised!! 

Sarah's little girl and Paige are close in age, so we got matching outfits and Daniel took some pictures of us girls before church.

It was hard to get the girls to look at the camera at the same time-but I still love how they turned out!

My parents picked out the girls' outfits-they are adorable!

Love my sister!

Daniel's parents came up our last weekend, and we went to a pumpkin patch where you could pick apples, pumpkins, ride rides, and feed animals. It was basically a mini heaven for Paige. 

I love my little apple picker! I die over those pigtails!

Paige has no fear of animals! Petting zoos are really the jackpot.

We were never really sure what this animal was.

Paige rode the pony and we rode the swings. I thought the swings would be nice and mild-I was shocked at how fast we went! We had so much fun picking apples, playing with the pumpkins, and spending time with family. I loved every minute at the pumpkin patch-I know it will be a while before we get to go to another one!

17-21 Week Recap

So it's been a while, this you know. But let's get right to this recap!

17 Weeks

I don't have any pictures of weeks 18-20. But I have definitely popped, and I didn't even realize it at first. I was talking to a friend and said how I felt like I was in the awkward "is she fat or pregnant?" stage. And she very bluntly said "No, you LOOK pregnant." And she was so right. 

We are planning on delivering here in our city in East Asia. A few foreigners have already had babies here and have had pretty good experiences. I met the doctor today-he is a local, but has practiced in the States and has great english. There are definitely a few cultural differences.though.  First, the average stay after a c-section (which is what I'll have) is 6-7 days. I've already asked if I could leave before then, and he said it was okay. Another is the swimming they offer the baby just a few days after birth. We saw a newborn today "swimming." Daniel said he would let our baby do it, but I'm going to go with no on this one. 

It looks like this, except picture a newborn. 

Here are the Stats:

How Far Along: 21 weeks

Size of Baby: 11 inches long, almost a pound!

Weight Gain: I think maybe 10 pounds. I'm not too sure. 

Gender: It's a BOY!!!!! We had an early ultrasound at 16 weeks in the States, and they were 75% sure. We had one at 19 weeks here, and they definitely see a boy!

Movement: Every day at this point. I can feel him getting stronger with his movements!

Sleep: Now it's not too bad. Our first few weeks here I was pretty uncomfortable most nights. But we are on a regular mattress now, and things are much better!

Maternity Clothes: Yes. I still wear some of my t shirts and regular shirts, but the maternity shirts are starting to fit better over the bump. 

Symptoms: Some back and hip pain that comes and goes, and I can tell my appetite is increasing

Aversions: Nothing really. 

Cravings: Sweets mostly, and also Nature Valley's Salted Caramel Nut Protein Bar. I bought a box randomly to bring here and I'm saving my last one for a very special day. But I think about eating it a lot. 

What I Miss: Not too much. 

Best Moment of the Week: Having the ultrasound last week and confirming we're having a boy! We have a name picked out that I'll share soon!

What I'm looking Forward to: Getting his nursery ready. It's a complete mess right now from the move, and I don't have anything picked out yet. But I'm excited for whenever it does comes together. 

That's me and Baby Boy at 21 weeks!