First off the big news. I had an ultrasound at 21 weeks. This was the big one where they scan everything and check all body parts. Thankfully she is looking great and is showing all signs of developing normally. It was odd going to this ultrasound and not being overly excited to find out the gender (since we already knew it was a girl). I suspect that with the way technology is I will continue to be able to find out early with the rest of my pregnancies. So while I wasn't excited about finding out the gender I was still excited to really sit down and watch our little one move around and see how she was developing. She had the hiccups while we scanned her which made for a lot of jumping around, but that also helped keep her active so that we could see everything that the tech wanted to see.
I started feeling her move daily at about 18 weeks which was a huge blessing. Those little flutters and movements really helped calm my fears and encouraged me daily that she was alive and doing well. I would mostly feel her at bedtime since that is when I was actually laying still. But now feel her move often through out the day as her kicks get stronger and have even seen a few movements from the outside which is fun. I can't wait for the kids to be able to feel her kick too!
I have been working on eating better the last few weeks and making sure I am exercising 4-5 times a week. I am so happy to be out of the morning sickness phase. I always gain a lot of weight those first several weeks as I have to eat every hour, right before bed, and in the middle of the night to keep the sickness at bay. I also have strong cravings that aren't always the greatest (lots of cold cereal!). But now I have stopped eating at night and right before bed. I have also been eating out less since we aren't traveling to Utah so much. So hopefully that will help me not gain too much more weight. Currently I have gained a little less then 20 lbs so I have to be careful from now on.
Energy wise I have felt pretty good. I have not been nearly as tired as I was with Declin's pregnancy. I do nap at least every other day, but usually for only 30 mins or so. I know I will probably lose some of my energy the farther I get into the pregnancy, but I have been pretty lucky so far. I think it really helps that the kids are getting older too. Adalyn is a huge help at entertaining Jensen and Declin and they all play fairly well together. Declin has also been taking 3-4 hour naps in the afternoons which is a nice break. The summer/spring weather is great so that we can all get out and do things. We decided to take a break from our TV (we packed it up and are storing it downstairs) and the change from watching 2-3 hours of TV a day to watching almost none hasn't been too hard since it is summer and they would rather be outside playing with friends anyway. I don't know how long the no TV thing will last, but it has been a nice change this summer.
Baby prep is in full swing. We bought all of the big stuff that we needed when we were in Utah a few weeks ago. We needed a new carseat and stroller set because our old carseat expires soon. I know not everyone follows the expiration dates, but it felt important to us so we decided to just go ahead and get a new one. Any ideas of what to do with my old carseat?! I feel bad just throwing it away, yet what else do you do with it? I debated about whether I should get a new stroller too, and in the end decided that with this being baby #4 in 5 years we wanted a double stroller (mostly for my sanity). We already have a double jogging stroller, but it is a beast to fold and put in my car and so I rarely take it anywhere (although I do love having it at home for walks around the neighborhood) so we found one that it much easier to fold up and put in a car to take places with us. The new stroller that we got can actually be a single stroller or a double stroller depending on how many seats you add to it. I love the versatility of it and that we will only have two strollers stored in our garage yet they can carry 1,2, or 3 kids depending on our needs. Yes I thought WAY too much about it. Yes we have spent lots of $ on strollers, but we hope to have several more kids so hopefully we will get good use out of them.
I also figured out my plan for the baby's room. My mom made a cute baby girl quilt a few years ago when we didn't know if Declin would be a girl or a boy. Obviously we didn't use it then so she has saved it for the next girl grandbaby. The colors of the quilt matched my thoughts on the color scheme for the baby's room so I asked my mom if I could have the quilt early so that I could match the room to it. Thankfully she said yes so we are going with it. The colors are gray, baby pink, and white. I LOVE baby pink these days and it is pretty easy to find things that match so hopefully the room comes together fairly easily. Of course I will post pictures when it is done.
Other baby prep projects that we have are refinish a bigger dresser for the older kids room. They need more drawers now that Declin will be joining them in a few months. Luckily my parents gave us a big one a few months back, we just need to refinish it. We also need to refinish some bunk beds that we bought used for Addie and Jensen to sleep on. So yes we have a few projects ahead of us.
As far as a name goes we have not officially decided on one yet. I thought we had a name all picked out, but then a second option got thrown in (Adalyn actually suggested this one and I think it is cute) so we are still debating. May not officially decide until she gets here and we can make sure the name matches.
Baby clothes wise I feel like my style and the trends are SO different then when I had Adalyn 5 years ago. I recently went through our baby girl clothes and while I am not replacing everything I do want to get a few new pieces and updated headbands. Happy to get rid of all of the massive flowers that we used to use as headbands. I think this baby will appreciate that too ;) My favorite styles for baby girl are vintage floral patterns and simple sleepers/rompers. I adore these Instagram accounts for some fun outfit inspiration. @toomanychildren, @whitneyfox, and @lovedbaby.
I can't believe this is baby #4. I feel like I just had Adalyn yesterday and then I look at her brothers and wonder "How did you get here?" haha! I still have to pinch myself sometimes to remind me that this is actually happening. We really are going to have a newborn in our house in a few short months! So exciting! I definitely still have moments of "what are we getting ourselves into?!" Especially when we are at Home Depot... at dinner time... and Jensen did not nap that day. u.g.l.y. But I know we will figure it out and it will be beautiful. Although we may stop leaving our house (so please come visit!)
A look back...
I was able to give my old car seat to the fire department, I think they sent it to be recycled. I don't know if your fire department does that in IF but it might be worth a try depending on how you're feeling.
ReplyDeleteSo exciting! Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy!
ReplyDeleteI have heard that Babies R Us gives you money for old car seats. But I think they only do that on certain dates.
ReplyDeleteYour kiddos are so cute! Love reading!!
Yay! I love reading updates like this. I think you're such an incredible mother and I love the sentiment that having a house full of small children is something that you've always wanted. It has such perspective and I really love it.
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