16 weeks

How far along? 16 weeks

Total weight gain:  -3 lbs. again. I lost 3 lbs in the first trimester and haven't gained anything since, one week I went up two lbs but it was gone again. This belly is still telling me a different story than the scale.

Maternity clothes?  Contemplated a belly band this week, but I'm still fighting with my regular pants. I purchased maternity pantyhose this week, they make those and their great! Target clearance of course. 

Sleep: Really, really well. Still getting used to sleeping on my side. Sleeping on my stomach is no longer an option. 

Best moment this week:  We got the baby's room painted this week and if you can tell by this weeks picture (I've been taking them in baby's room so you can see the progression of the room as time goes on too.) it's a grayish color that I'm loving! If you look towards the bottom right of the picture that's the closest to the color the picture doesn't really show the color of the room very well.

Worst Moment this week: Between painting the baby's room and also doing some painting at our church I've been having some back pain that hasn't been fun. I'm just not the kind of person that can do nothing though, I've always got about seven different projects going on at the same time.

Miss Anything? Feeling comfortable in my clothes and I know it's only about the get worse. 

Cravings: I'm back on a pineapple kick, bananas, guacamole and chips(thanks to my father in law and his wife for the homemade goodness), and brownies/hot fudge sundaes and ice cold water. Every time David and I go out to eat I ask him how good he thinks the water will be. 

Symptoms: Besides some back pain and realizing I can't work as hard as I normally do without having some pain I haven't really had any other symptoms I've been feeling GREAT.

Looking forward to:  Looking forward to a busy week and weekend with parties and Valentine's Day dinners, it's been kind of low key around here for a couple weeks plus the weather right now is perfect. Last week we were knee deep in snow and right now it's 58 degrees, I think the weather has pregnancy hormones.

15 weeks

How far along? 15 weeks 

Total weight gain: -1lb I'm still down a pound from my pre pregnancy weight, but I was down 3lbs so technically I gained 2lbs. from a few weeks ago

Maternity clothes? Do leggings count?! I'm living in them.

Sleep:  I'm still sleeping really good, I can no longer sleep on my stomach though without feeling a lot of pressure, so side sleeping it is.

Best moment this week: hearing our sweet baby's heartbeat at the doctors (140-145 bpm) and getting some of our genetic screening and blood work back and getting the all clear. Thankful, thankful for a healthy baby so far. 

Worst Moment this week: Learning we have to have our gender ultrasound postponed a few weeks. :/

Miss Anything? Caesar Salads this week, the dressing is made with raw eggs..

Cravings: Not craving a thing in particular, but food just tastes so much better nowadays. No wonder you gain weight.

Symptoms:  I'm feeling really good this week. I actually told David I didn't even feel pregnant anymore now that the sickness and tiredness has went away. 

Looking forward to: This darn ultrasound, I'll probably be saying that for awhile now...

14 weeks

How far along? 14 weeks 

Total weight gain: I did not get on the scale this week - I can't say that I don't feel any bigger than last week but we can also chalk that up to living in leggings. You can't exactly tell if you've gained weight if you don't have to button your pants.

Maternity clothes?  None. But I am on the hunt currently for good maternity pants. I haven't got up the courage to actually go to a store to try them on but I have ordered online and returned just about everything... 

Sleep:  I am sleeping like a baby!  Having a snack (cereal or Cottage cheese and fruit) before bed helps me wake up without hunger pains. I'm no longer napping during the day so that means I'm in bed by 9:30-10 every night.

Best moment this week:  4 weeks is a long time between each appointment when you have a little thing inside you that your dying to know everything about ( heartbeat, gender, everything!!) so we downloaded those silly apps that turn your phone into a stethoscope. After several attempts we heard baby's heartbeat! The sweetest sound to my ears. 

Worst Moment this week: I've learned that I can go from nice to mean pretty quick and normally only toward my husband. Poor guy! He has been so sweet and patient and I'm working on taming my inner mean girl.

Miss Anything? Not really this week. 

Cravings: This week I really wanted Chinese takeout, I started regretting it halfway through though! I'm learning not to indulge in every craving, because it normally goes away. I'm loving cottage cheese and fruit currently.

Symptoms:  Food aversion just won't go away. No morning sickness, but I dread making dinner because it makes me not want to eat it. The smell of coffee brewing is also the worst thing I encounter every morning. 

Looking forward to:  I'm getting excited about our gender reveal party, I started really planning and buying a few things this week to make it all come together and I can't wait to share with everyone of our family and friends whether our baby will be a boy or a girl! 

13 weeks

How far along? 13 weeks 

Total weight gain: -3 lbs, not quite sure where exactly it went because this belly is saying otherwise. 

Maternity clothes?  No, not really.  I am starting to feel it in my pants though.

Sleep:  I think most of the first trimester fatigue is over now, I was napping during the day and then having a hard time staying asleep at night. Now I'm not napping and sleeping so good, if not too good at night.                     

Best moment this week:  News of a raise, I will be receiving a $12/hr. raise over the next three months, the Lord just always, always, always provides for us and our sweet child already! Praise the Lord.

Worst Moment this week: When I came home from work mid day and decided I needed to change my pants because I was so uncomfortable. Getting dressed is becoming a chore.     

Miss Anything? I'm missing sleeping straight through the night. The midnight pee breaks keep me up much longer than they should.

Cravings: Pineapple, eggs and cereal are my current favorite foods and the water consumption is at an all time high, a water bottle isn't far from my reach at all times. In the early weeks it was all things unhealthy, so things are looking up.

Symptoms:  Exhaustion and food aversion. I've started making dinner several times - and the smells ruin any chances of me eating it.  The first trimester morning or all day sickness has seemed to pass for good! 

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender!  I can't stand myself. I'm so anxious to find out. I still have no inclination of what baby may be, I've dreamed of a little boy though!

Fitzgerald's First Birthday Cake

This year I opted to try a different cake for Fitzgerald's First Birthday. You can find Ronin's first birthday cake here. Fitz ended up with a much bigger cake, but I also didn't throw him a birthday party like I did Ronin, so it evens out..I think. I hope I'm not like this with our children... Our dogs have very sensitive stomachs, its rare that we go a week without one of them waking us up in the middle of the night sick. So for them to eat this whole cake (over the span of three days) and not get sick- GO ME!

I hope your puppies enjoy this cake as much as mine did! If nothing else, the peanut butter is always a hit!

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

3 tbsp honey

1/4 c. yogurt

2 c. water

3 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 c. natural oats

Icing

Peanut Butter

Honey

Dog treats of your choice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray cake pans with nonstick spray. I used two different sizes for the stacked cake look.

Combine ingredients.

Bake for 1 hour.

Add icing once cake has cooled.

The Hope for Paris, the Hope for us all.

As I worked through my evening routine last evening my mind raced through several thoughts. This world is getting darker day by day, sense act after senseless act. What was once good and lovely is turning into death and destruction. None of this is a surprise, especially to those believers of Christ, and none of this caught Him off guard, yet it still hurts and our hearts absolutely grieve the evil that is running rampant, not just in Paris, but throughout this world. With my heart feeling overwhelmed and even afraid with the most recent news, I was reminded by the most beautiful sunset out my window at dinner as I looked over my husbands shoulder, that though the world is crumbling before our eyes, God is still the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is still on the throne. He is still so very good, perfect in ALL of HIS ways with love so undeniable and He is COMING BACK. There is such a burning in my heart over this, eternity is forever, please, please. If there was ever a time or event in your life to turn to Him let it be now. He is the only hope under the sun.

My first and last quilt experience.

Wayyyy back in August for our second, cotton, anniversary David took me to Hobby Lobby and bought me so fabric to make my own quilt. It was one of those things you see on Pinterest and think "I can do that!" or "I have to have that." Now it wasn't quite one of those "pinterest fails" that you see and are ever so hilarious.

The Materials you need for this quilt are:

1/2 yard each of 6 different  cotton fabrics

1 1/2 yards fabric for back

1 1/2 yards batting

binging tape

Triangle Quilt Template I drew mine out the top is 5 3/4 and the two sides are 8"

Extra helpful tidbits:

~use 1/4 seam allowances

~finished quilt is approx. 42"x48"

~ I used black, teal, a multicolored triangle pattern, that I based all the other colors off of, a very pale pink, white, and a small black and white polka dot pattern, just because I have a soft spot for polka dots. 

You can replace any colors you want and pink whatever patterns you want as well, thats what makes it fun and let me tell you picking out the fabric was the most fun I had during the whole process.

6 prints/colors and my backing which I used as the polka dot pattern as well.

After cutting out 19 triangles in each color/pattern and cutting one of each color down the middle for the ends I arranged them on the floor like so.

The pattern I used was:

1. Black

2. Teal

3. Triangles

4. Pink

5. White

6. Polka dots

template

I couldn't leave them like this for long because as you will see my dogs love blankets and even though it wasn't a blanket yet, they still just know.

Once I sewed the strips of triangles together in strips left to right I pressed all the seam allowances open to lay flat.

I then sewed the rows together and again pressed the seam allowances to look like so, starting to look like a quilt.

After I played my polka dot back down and then my batting, and then placed my quilt squares on the top. Using a rotary cutter it helps if you trim the edges. Once you do this you are ready to bind!

My Ronin also made this process very difficult as well.

Once it was all said and done, I had a decent quilt, but the  process was very tiresome and lengthy that is why it is now three months since I started this process, but granted I didn't work on it every day and sometimes weeks went by because I just needed a break from the darn sewing machine.

Someone said to me once it was all said and done. "That's great, I've never made a quilt." My response was "trust me, it's not worth the aggravation."

Maybe in 100 years when I forget what the process was like and they come out with some cool, fancy, high tech sewing machine that I can actually afford I will try my hand at another quilt until then, NOBODY touches this one!