Baby Chris

I often wonder who the baby will look like. Recently my in laws gave me a flash drive of old family photos from when Chris was little. Looking at these photos makes me want a baby boy who looks just like him. He is so cute and he looks so happy!

Here he is clearly up to something!

This is such a sweet picture. I am guessing he's in kindergarten.

It so neat to see his personality in these pictures. It's funny how much we change while at the same time how much we stay the same.

Cravings and Aversions

One of the strangest things about being pregnant has been cravings and aversions. At first I was very nauseous and hardly wanted to eat anything. For a few weeks I only ate toast, chicken broth and baked potatoes. I couldn't stomach meat, eggs, noodles of any kind, or anything with a strong flavor. At the same time I craved baked potatoes like crazy! Once my nausea passed I found I was very picky for the first time in my life. I have always eaten pretty much anything and had very little patience for picky eaters. I'm becoming a lot more patient. I still can't eat noodles or strong flavored foods and I have a hard time with meat and eggs (they have to be scrambled with toast or grits). Chicken is okay but I can only eat beef in chili or tacos and ground. I usually just want to eat the foods I ate as a kid. These days we eat a lot of tacos, baked potatoes, chili, oatmeal breaded chicken strips, BBQ chicken, Thai chicken tacos, scalloped potatoes, scrambled eggs and toast. There are also a lot of nights where we simply eat a baked potato with fresh veggies from our CSA box.

I still have cravings right now it's for strawberries and milk. Last week it was dark greens, a while back it was a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce. And always baked potatoes. I don't think I've had any strange cravings. Rather what's strange is how consistently I crave baked potatoes and how upset I become if I can't have what I'm craving. Tears have been shed more than once! I do believe that if you are craving a whole food (as opposed to BBQ potato chips or candy) you should eat it. I think we crave things our bodies need. There must be something very good in baked potatoes that I need--perhaps potassium.

For those of you who have been pregnant, what were your cravings? Anyone crave pickles and ice cream?

Pregnancy update

I am 17 weeks pregnant and feeling great. I still have occasional weepy bouts and prefer to eat baked potatoes but my energy has returned. On the one hand I can't believe how fast time is going by on the other December still feels like a long way from now. However, we are starting to prepare for the baby and it is starting to feel more real.

Yesterday was the first time a stranger commented on my pregnancy. I am starting to show and most of my pants only fit with the bellaband. It was actually really funny because she said, "what a cute belly, when are you due?" and for a second I forgot I was pregnant and thought she was calling me fat! It was just such a surprise to have a stranger notice. Here is a picture of the belly last night:

We still have a few more weeks until we find out if it's a boy or girl. However we are starting to work on the nursery. I posted a few inspiration pictures a few weeks ago but now I have a much firmer idea in my head for each one. Our first big nursery project is to refinish a dresser that my Mom found at a garage sale. This was a great find and I'm so excited about it. Although it isn't a great picture here is the before:

It's a solid mahogany dresser from the 1920's. It is a little scratched, there is a crack on one of the drawer fronts and the knobs are broken. We are working right now to sand it down so we can fill the crack and paint it white. Then we will find new nobs to put on and it will be as good as new. We have also decided on the Jennylind crib which we will be getting next month. But perhaps most exciting is this rocking chair that my Mom and Stepfather are letting us use.

It's been in Michael's family and was in their garage. It is so perfect. Not only is it gorgeous but it fits me perfectly!

I am also reading a lot of books! My favorites so far have been The Baby Talk Guide to the First Year and The Happiest Baby on the Block. However, I just got The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and Baby Wise and am looking forward to those as well.

I know time will pass quickly and this little one will be here before we know it!

Pregnancy Update: week 13

Thank you for all of the sweet comments about our exciting news!

I am 13 weeks and our baby is the size of a peach. So far my pregnancy is going really well. As I mentioned I've had some nausea but that seems to have passed. I am still really tired but I feel like my energy is starting to come back. Now that I am in the second trimester I am looking forward to having a lot more energy. The hardest part about the first trimester was the emotions. I would start crying over the smallest thing. Thankfully for both Chris and I that also seems to be getting better.

We had our first ultra sound at 10 weeks and were able to see the baby. He/she put on quite a show for us kicking, flipping around and squirming quite a bit. We could also see the heart beat which was pretty amazing. We go back to the doctor next week and should be able to hear the heart beat.

We will be finding out the sex of the baby. However we have to wait until our 20 week appointment the last week of July. However I think it's a girl:)