13 weeks - Second Trimester!!

How far along? 13 weeks. Yay we made it to the second trimester!
Total weight gain/loss: -6lbs 
Maternity clothes? Although not completely necessary yet, the shirt I have on in this picture is a maternity shirt from Old Navy. The leggings are just normal leggings. But all my pants/shorts are uncomfortable so loose fitting things and dresses are a must 
Stretch marks? None but my skin is SO dry!! 
Sleep: Getting less and less sleepy everyday, yay for more energy! 
Best moment this week: Spending time with old friends that we don't get to see often and meeting new ones! 
Miss Anything? Not this week =) 
Movement: None yet, can't wait though! 
Symptoms: Still headaches and occasionally lightheaded 
Food cravings: Chicken nuggets! 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Still meat (minus chicken nuggets, obviously)! 
Have you started to show yet: I have a full time bump now, although its still really tiny 
Gender prediction: Lately I've been really feeling boy but I think that's because EVERYONE recently has been telling me they think it's a boy. (about 7 weeks until we find out, not that I'm counting!) 
Labor Signs: No 
Belly Button in or out? In 
Wedding rings on or off? On 
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! 
Looking forward to: I'm still going to say gaining some weight, feeling movement and finding out the gender!

12 weeks!

How far along? 12 weeks 
Total weight gain/loss: Lost 2 more lbs :(  -6lbs
Maternity clothes? All my pants with buttons are uncomfortable. I have been wearing my leggings, dresses and elastic shorts/pants. I did buy some maternity leggings and 2 maternity shirts but I can't fit into them yet. 
Stretch marks? Nope! Really dry skin though! 
Sleep: Still get pretty tired in the afternoons and early evening. 
Best moment this week: Seeing the little peanut again at our 12 week ultrasound! eek! 
Miss Anything? Sushi and surprisingly lunch meat. 
Movement: None yet, can't wait though! 
Symptoms: Headaches are my main battle at the moment, trying to avoid the Tylenol as long as possible. 
Food cravings: Donuts! Yum! 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Still meat! 
Have you started to show yet: I think that my bump is finally starting to stick around all day, not just at night, but its still really tiny :) 
Gender prediction: Everyday I go back and forth. Women who wait to find out the gender are nuts! It's driving me crazy to have to wait 2 more months!!! 
Labor Signs: No 
Belly Button in or out? In 
Wedding rings on or off? On 
Happy or Moody most of the time: The past couple days I've been pretty grumpy in the mornings but I recover and am pretty happy once lunch time hits! 
Looking forward to: GAINING SOME WEIGHT!! (I never thought I'd say that!)

12 week ultrasound

We got to see the little nugget again at our 12 week ultrasound. He/she was moving like CRAZY! It was kicking and sucking its thumb, wiggling and moving its arms around! It was sooo awesome! Can't wait to feel some movement and find out if its a little girl or boy! =)

11 Week Update!

How far along? 11 Weeks 3 days 
Total weight gain/loss: Same as last week. -4
Maternity clothes? None yet but I plan to borrow/buy some soon. My pants are starting to get a little uncomfortable, I've been wearing my legging everywhere.
Stretch marks? No. I bought some stretch mark cream so hopefully this stays a no for the whole 9 months!
Sleep: Still tired and sleeping well. However, I have started waking up at about 5am and can't get back to sleep. I also have been getting uncomfortable and I toss and turn.
Best moment this week: We went to BuyBuy Baby and loved looking at all the baby stuff! Can't wait to start registering and buying things =) I bought a baby book and started filling out what I could!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? I miss feeling like myself (not so tired, eating regularly..etc) but I know it's all worth it!
Movement: None yet, can't wait though!
Symptoms: Still not eating like normal and still occationally dizzy. New symptom this week is mild headaches that are only relieved with a little caffiene.
Food cravings: Adding to last weeks list, Popsicles, salsa & chips, bread
Anything making you queasy or sick: Meat of any kind, yuck!
Have you started to show yet: Same as last week, bump gets bigger as the day goes on. I take my bump pictures at the very end of the day so it's the biggest, I don't care if that's cheating :) 
Gender prediction: I was thinking girl but now I'm unsure. Ahh can't wait to find out!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: We get another ultrasound this week! We can't wait to see baby again!

10 Weeks

How far along? 10 Weeks 3 days
Total weight gain/loss: I haven't gained any weight. I've actually lost about 4 lbs (down from 122 lbs to 118 lbs) since becoming pregnancy. 
Maternity clothes? None yet
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Sleeping great, still occasionally taking a nap during the day
Best moment this week: Celebrating with my best friend at her Bachelorette Party! =)
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? Eating like normal again & eating normal foods. Going all night without having to get up to pee!
Movement: None
Symptoms: Still having dizzy spells from my low BP. I had an episode at work today where I nearly blacked out. I've been drinking water by the gallon!
Food cravings: Salty chips, cheese, cereal, pasta (I could eat mac and cheese at every meal), salads.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Meat of any kind
Have you started to show yet: My bump at this point is an accumulation of food and bloating. At the beginning of the day I have little to no bump but by the time I go to bed I have quite the little bump =) I'm definitely ready for the real deal!
Gender prediction: Girl - 10 weeks until we can find out!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Finding out the gender, feeling the baby move & getting a bigger bump!

Coming Soon: Baby Blackburn & 9 Weeks!

Surprise! We're pregnant!

After a missed period, countless NEGATIVE pregnancy tests, blood work and a longer than normal wait. We FINALLY found out we were expecting by phone call from the doctor while we were in Maine for a friends wedding. Needless to say we are very excited to welcome baby Blackburn next February!

I naively thought I was going to be one of those women who skate through pregnancy unscathed. Then the nausea hit, and it hit hard. I spent the majority of 2 weeks (weeks 5 and 6) laying on the bathroom floor, bed, break room floor...etc with a garbage can and the worst feeling I've ever had that I was going to vomit at any minute. Everything you read says nausea peaks at week nine and usually disappears around week 13. Which might as well have been 5 years from now, since there was no way I was going to survive that long. Alas, week seven hit and the nausea subsided! Praise the Lord! I guess my body started tolerating my high hormone levels and decided, in fact, I would not have survived so it starting doing something about it.

The nausea is gone now. I do get frequent tummy aches but that is nothing like the nausea I experienced and I don't even feel nauseous when I get them, more like a belly ache. I have had trouble eating a large amount of food. I try to eat frequent small meals to stay full but sometimes nothing sounds good. I get really full after eating only a little bit of food and I've had a minor weight loss, which is completely normal my doctor says. The most recent symptoms I've been battling are exhaustion and lightheaded/dizziness. The exhaustion is like nothing I've felt before. I literally could sleep all day every day. I take 2 hour naps often and when I don't, I'm passed out asleep by 8:30pm. The lightheaded/dizziness is due to low blood pressure from the changes in my blood volume and supporting baby's blood volume. These two symptoms are WELCOMED as long as that nausea doesn't comeback (I can handle anything after that!). They are also completely normal and just a sign that, indeed, baby is growing! Yay!

We had our first ultrasound at week 6.5 and we got to see the little nugget (looks more like a blob but it's a baby I promise). We got to see the blood pumping and even got to hear the heartbeat! It was very cool and exciting. Here is the first look at baby!

Ultrasound 6.5 weeks

We just got home from our second doctors visit and we got to hear baby's heartbeat again on the Doppler. Definitely they best moment of the week! =) I am 9 weeks 4 days as of today. 

I plan to do weekly updates with my chalkboard (Inspiration here and here). I don't have much of a bump yet so for week 9 I just have the announcement board! I will start next week with bump pictures (hopefully I have a mini bump) and a weekly questionnaire so I can track my bump and how I'm feeling over the next 7 month! Wow I can't believe 2 months have already past!

Basement Renovation: Trim, Doors & Cabinets

So we have been SLOWLY working on the basement in between our other summer adventures. 

We have been doing odds and ends and it's awesome to see it all coming together. 

We hung the doors and leveled them. Then we had to frame them with the trim we painted. 

This is the HVAC room that was framed out and the bi-fold doors still need hung. 

We put all of our face plates on the outlets and switches, as you can see in this picture above. 

Sneak peak at the cabinets! =)

Cabinets are in and they look awesome! I am super excited about how great they look with the paint and tile. 

All of our lighting is in now with the addition of our bathroom light! The bathroom is almost done, just needs toilet and vanity/mirror. 

Chad is currently working on hanging all the trim. The parts of the basement that he has done look so good! It starting to look more like a finished basement and less like a construction site. 

This Weeks Costs

Bi-fold Door Frame - $17

Lumber to frame windows and doors - $64

Outlets - $10

Switch & Outlet Plates - $9

3 Dimmer switches - $38

Bathroom light - $84

Bar Track Light - $120

Cabinets - $1,319

Free Things that were we already had

Labor

Nail gun

Nails
Saw

This weeks total - $1,661

Project total - $7,875

Things I learned this week:  Finishing a basement is tedious, especially in the summer when there are so many other things going on! 

What's next? 

1) Finish trim

2) Hang bi-fold doors

3) Caulk nail holes & trim

4) Paint & hang quarter round

4) Paint trim and doors

5) Set Cabinets

6) Install Vanity, Mirror and Toilet in bathroom.

7) Finish and install window boxes and frame windows

8) Build and install shelving units 

9) Install stair railing.

10) Build and install the bookshelves

11) Install fireplace

12) Countertop

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

Project {Garden}: Part 2

Sorry for the hitatus, we are in dire need of a new computer and I dread everytime I have to get on the old one we have to do anything at all. It takes nearly 20 minutes to open the internet these days. Nonetheless, I'm still here and a basement post will be happening soon, I promise. Until then...

Project Garden is in full motion these days! Everything is growing well and, fingers crossed, I might actually get some veggies this year!

My hostas are up and looking great, survived last year! The onions are bigger than ever and I even have a tiny strawberry! =) The only thing I have taken advantage of so far is the cilantro and it's delicious. Unfortunately, I think it has started to bolt, which essentially means flower, which essentially means no more edible parts will grow...

I planted my tomato and pepper plants a couple weeks ago and they are already bigger! I went ahead and put the cages on them now. Last year, I waited until they were bigger and I think I may have put the cage into the roots a little oops.

I went ahead and put up a fence to keep the bunnies out. This makes it pretty difficult for me to pull the weeds because I'm short vertically challenged. Usually I just fall into the planter box getting myself completely dirty ask Chad for help and he can reach the stuff I can't. Hopefully it won't pose to big a problem once I need to pick the plants.

We laid grass seed in the UGLY area in our backyard!! yay! This is what I am most excited about. It is SUPER patchy and pretty ugly still but its growing and that's all I care about. It has been about a month since we lay the seed. We are super luck because we got a TON of rain that week too and it seems to be growing well. I know that we will have to seed it again but this is definately a start!

I think we are done with yard work for the year. The mulch we put down last year has held up pretty well and we don't need to do it again this year. Besides, we have other things that are taking priority at the moment (hello, trying to finish a basement here...)! Getting a shed is DEFINATELY needed but may not be in the budget this year. We will have to wait and see! =)