Fearless 15

That is right my blog friends we have arrived at 15 weeks, now if I was only really fearless. Gotta work on that! Now I have decided this week to just deliver the main event straight off. That’s right picture time!!!

Can I just say I am so glad I had a little make up on for this one. So I am starting to pop a little bit and I am sure this will be more prominent in the weeks to come. Now for the update . . .

Week 15

Size:  NAVEL ORANGE, 4.0 inches long, and weighing in at 2.5 oz

Physical Features:  The little Acorn's legs are now longer than its arms and the sweet little one is wiggling and squirmy away. Can not wait to feel those first movements!! Also this week baby’s scalp hair pattern will be established for life. Who knew?! Even if they are born bald (like me) it has already been established. Isn’t the miracle of life just AWESOME!?

What I Miss:  I do miss being able to eat without heartburn, not that it has stopped me from eating the heartburn offending food! I am also having to come to terms with the fact that eventually my clothes will not fit. As most of you know I did Weight Watchers and lost some weight prior to getting pregnant, and it is hard to get out of that weight loss mind set. The thought of having to give up my “skinny” pants one day makes me a little sad. Although I know it will be due to our growing baby!

Aversions:  No changes here from last week.

Cravings: Hmmm, peanut butter things like pie and Easter eggs have been pretty popular, but they may be due to the Holiday. I also have been really enjoying strawberries.

Overall feelings: Great! I did have one small sick spell on Saturday. Nick and I hit Chick Fil A prior to going to the zoo, and on our way over there I could tell I did not feel right. We ended up coming back home for a brief pit stop and then headed on our way with me feeling much better. This is only the 2nd time I have gotten sick so I continue to feel extremely blessed.

Appointments & Coming Events:  Okay, I failed to announce a major event in the extended Oaks Family last week. On April 19th I became an Aunt again!!! Congratulations to Chris & Megan on the birth of there beautiful daughter Mela!!! She is just gorgeous! It is so excited that our little acorn already has 3 cousins- Our nephews’ Topher and Cannon and now our niece Mela! Can’t wait to have all the new babies and cousins together in November! Praise God for all his many blessings!

Fabulous 14

So 1st and foremost I want to apologize for being a day late getting the baby blog update out there. I know you have just been on pins and needles-haha! Now that being said I have a good excuse I had a shopping/pedicure night with my Mom! I know have beautiful toes and some new duds! What more can a girl ask for?! And yes once I can not reach my toes I might just have to get one those ohh so wonderful pedi’s on a regular basis.

So enough of my babble on to the main event . . .

FABULOUS WEEK 14

Hooray we have made it to the 2nd trimester!!!

Size: The little acorn is LEMON sized this week. 3.4 in length and weighing in at 1.5oz

Physical Features:  Our little one is busy with thumb sucking and toe wiggling this week.  BUT wait Baby Oaks was doing that last week. We have proof! I guess that means our kid is just advanced Our little Acorn is developing its liver, kidney, and spleen this week.  Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over baby’s body for warmth.

What I Miss:  Like I have said previously it is hard to complain about missing anything knowing what you are going to gain at the end of 9 months. However, I must admit I do still long for a good allergy pill, but this to shall pass.

Aversions:  I now have an aversion! Whoo hoo! I have for the past year drank a 1/2 a pack of Wild Strawberry Crystal Light in my 1st bottle of water for the day. This week that suddenly became very unappetizing.

Cravings: I am still subject to the power of suggestion. This week I did seem very focused on wanting lemon things particularly to drink. I wanted lemon in my water and started drinking lemonade crystal light packs.

Overall feelings: I have felt overall a little off this week. I contribute this to a bad combination of acid reflux ad indigestion. Needless to say Tums have become my new best friend. I have also been fighting headaches on and off all week which I mostly attribute to sinus and allergy pressure. Everything is still very manageable and I continue to feel BLESSED!

Appointments & Coming Events:  Not to much to report here baby related since my next appointment is not till May 11th. On a non-baby front it is Easter Weekend! Up from the grave he arose . . .

Now for the bump . . .

Still not sure if there is much to see here . . .kinda looks like something, maybe? Once again I promise that Baby Oaks is in there!

WE LOVE YOU LITTLE ACORN!

Spring Flowers!

Happy Spring Allergy Season to all! I don’t know about the rest of you but my allergies have been terrible the last few days. The combination of wind and pollen has given me super itchy eyes. Now despite my overall discomfort some truly beautiful things have been popping up and blooming outside. Here are a few things that happened in my yard . . .

In addition to the lavender and daffodils I also have a large snowball bush that is blooming right now. It is green at the moment but will be white soon. AND the crepe myrtle I planted at the end of fall is showing some buds, which means it survived the winter. WHOO HOO! Can not wait for the crepe myrtle to bloom it is going to be fabulous.

I found one more thing in my yard . . .

You know I had to sneak in a cat picture!

So excited to have so many of God’s beautiful creations in my yard to enjoy!

Week 13

So here we are at week 13 and we got to see Baby Oaks today and hear the heart beat!!!! So exciting! Today’s ultrasound was just AWESOME! I had 2 ultrasounds early on and was only able to see a tiny blip and see the heart beat. Today we got to see so much more! Our precious Acorn was sucking its thumb and using its precious little feet to push off the side of my insides so it could bounce around! It is truly amazing to think that there is a little person moving inside me but I just can not feel it yet. Can not wait to feel the 1st Baby Oaks movements! Hearing the heart beat for the 1st time was also great and very reassuring.  Baby’s heart beat was a strong 162 bpm. Another good thing that came out today was the firm and official due date! I measured at 10/22/11 at today’s ultrasound but my doctor elected to keep me at the original 10/19/11.

I was actually nervous going into today’s appointment and was so happy to see and hear that everything is progress well. Praise the Lord! It is such a blessing to see Baby Oaks moving around and see how rapidly baby has developed. Life is truly a miracle!

Now on to the weekly update . . .

Acorn at Week 13

Size: Our baby is a PEACH this week. Well, peach sized at least. 2.9 inches and .81 ounces

Physical Features:  The precious Acorn is  forming teeth and vocal cords and baby is now approaching normal proportions with the head now only 1/3 size of the body.

What I Miss:  Well, it would be nice to sleep through the night, but I think my periodic wake ups during the night are just preparing me to be a parent!

Aversions:  Nothing!

Cravings: So I have determined that I don’t have cravings as much as “the power of suggestion.” I don’t actually randomly crave things, but I do see people eating certain things or hear people talking about certain foods and I decide I have to have it. For instance, last Saturday I was in the mall and saw 2 ladies with Petro’s Orange teas, and I had to have one. It didn’t help that I was really hot and thirsty at the time. Something similar also happened to me on Sunday, Nick’s Mom was talking about how they went to IHop for lunch and I decided right then that I needed pancakes for dinner. I ended up having Cracker Barrel ‘s French Toast, which is FABULOUS and I highly recommend it!

Overall feelings:  I still feel great! I have heart burn and indigestion still , but it is nothing that I can not deal with at the moment. I have noticed in the last week that my skin seems oily and I seem to be forming zits in odd places, like my hair line, behind my ear, and neck. I feel lucky that they are not immediately visible, and I am just praying that they don’t spread to my face. I also got back into a workout routine this week, which actually helps me keep feeling energized. A special thanks to my SIL, Nicole for doing in-home Zumba with the Preggers girl! I promise to return  the favor one day!Here’s to praying that I still continue to feel good.

Appointments & Coming Events:  My next appointment is in early May and just a regular check up.I honestly thought they would schedule my anatomy scan with this appointment but my Dr. said that they wait till 20 weeks and I will only be 17 at that appointment. HOWEVER I expect that they will schedule my anatomy scan then and I think it will be the last of May or 1st of June.

Now I know many of you are expecting a “bump” picture but I was not able to pull one together tonight. Also I really think you could take last weeks pic and paste it here since I look the same. Instead I bring to you the Acorn . . . .

See I told you there was a baby in there!!!

The picture is actually a scan of one of my ultrasound pics and is not the best quality.  It is much better in person! (I did not have a disc with pics). So in case you can not tell this is one of Baby Oaks sucking its thumb. So precious!!!

Ohhh and I promise the bump picture will be back next week!

Keep praying for us!

Baby Oaks On the Way & Week 12 Update

It is with much excitement that I announce to my wonderful blog friends that Nick and I are expecting! Coming October 19th (edd) there will be another Oaks amongst us! For most (maybe all) this will be old news, but I felt it was officially time to out myself on the blog so I could begin documenting the whole experience.

We found out on February 13th that Oaks²  was expanding to Oaks³  and we could not have been more excited and well perhaps a bit nervous. I took 4 tests! Yes, that is right, I said 4! Just a tad bit of advice on the whole pregnancy testing experience; I highly recommend the EPT digital. It gives you a clear “Pregnant” or “Not pregnant”, very clear and very decisive! None of that guess work with the lines! They may cost a little more, but they are totally worth it in my opinion.

 We caught this pregnancy at 4 weeks, yes I know REALLY EARLY! I had been feeling just a bit off and just felt like we should take a test. Looking back now it is still hard to explain exactly how I felt upon getting all those wonderful positive results. It was kind of a mixture of scared, anxious, excited, and joyous all at once! So then began the exciting process of sharing our great news with all our family, friends, and loved ones. Initially the plan was to keep the new pretty tight for a little while. We were going to tell family and a few friends. Given my reputation as “The Informer” I felt I would probably be the first one to break the plan, but my wonderful husband and Daddy to be was so excited that he actually announced our big news in a meeting at work. Bless his heart! He was too excited and happy for me to be upset with him. So needless to say news traveled fast to everyone! I took it live on Facebook at week 10 and now I bring to you my blog friends Week 12 . . .

Our Acorn at Week 12

Size: Baby Oaks is “Plum” sized and is measuring at 2.1 inches and weighing in at .49 oz.

Physical Features:  Our little Acorn is forming hair follicles along with finger nail and toe nail beds. Overall our baby has very distinct human characteristics at this point. Also almost all systems have developed and we will now move into the growth and maturity stage.

What I Miss: Wow . . . it is honestly hard to complain about missing anything given how blessed I feel.  BUT I if I had to name something it would be Allegra! Springing is springing and so is my allergies. In order to keep Baby Oaks healthy there are only certain meds I can take and I miss some of my old faithful’s during these pollen filled times.

Aversions:  I can not think of anything I truly have an aversion to at this point. I bought some Apple Juice over the weekend and the last 2 nights it has given me heart burn. So Apple Juice may be off the list for a little while.

Cravings: ummmm . . .FOOD! Yes, I have definitely noticed an increase in my appetite.  I have been trying to eat healthy snacks and fruit but I can not say that this effort has always been successful. Yes, Baby had to have Mom’s fried chicken one night. I feel no guilt about that, it was AWESOME!  Hopefully, I can keep some good eating habits and keep my weight gain to a minimum but I have a feeling this will be easier said than done.

Overall feelings:    I feel great! I have been truly blessed not to experience any morning or all day sickness. I have had a few moments that I felt nauseous, but I blame that on a cold I had a few weeks ago and the drainage on my stomach. I have had some indigestion, bloating, and heart burn and have had days where I felt like a huge gas bubble. I also get very hot at night, and have done this since the beginning. I have a nightly routine- wake up sweating, get up, visit the rest room, get a drink, get a wet wash cloth to put on head, and finally return to bed and sleep only under the sheet. If this is the worst of it I feel truly lucky as I know many other ladies who have experienced so much worse.

Appointments & Coming Events: We have actually already had 2 appointments and 2 ultra sounds and are looking forward to another appointment and ultra sound next week! I am really excited about this Ultra Sound, I think we will really be able to see a lot. Our other 2 were nice and very exciting but there was not a lot to see since Baby was so small.

Now the moment you have all been waiting for the “bump” picture . . .

I promise that there is a baby in there!

Nick and I truly feel that God has given us a wonderful gift and a blessing. We ask that you all keep all 3 of us in your prayers as we move along this new and exciting journey!

I plan to do a blog similar to this one each week to mark our progress and keep everyone updated. I hope everyone will find it enjoyable. I do also plan on doing my normal house/food/ random blogs to keep some variety. So check back often to hear about Baby Oaks and much more!

PS- Special thanks to another beautiful Momma to-Be, Becky for letting me model my baby blogs after hers! Thanks Becky!