39 + 40

I'm popping in from my maternity leave for just a minute to share my two final weekly maternity pictures. I figured I'd better post them before my 40th week was up (which is tomorrow).

This first week home with Buck has been so fun. Yes, we're all a little sleep deprived, and Peanut has had a few moments of unhappiness and jealousy, but when I think about how these two sweet angel babies are mine, none of that matters and I feel like the luckiest mama in the world.

Ok, as you were... :)

Week 38

Today I hit 39 weeks, so I guess it's time for another little pregnancy update. If you're getting tired of them, this should only be the second to last one, since our little guy is coming this Friday!

For the last few days I've been feeling really good about my size -- feeling totally small. Then I put on this fitted dress and realize how ginormous that bump really is. It's cracking me up.

This week I treated myself to a little pampering and got my hair done. I'm still getting used to it since it's a bit darker than I expected, but it'll fade a bit, and it's fun to have a little change as we head into winter.  Mostly I just enjoyed sitting in the chair getting my head massaged for two hours. I'm almost fell asleep multiple times in the middle of conversations with the hair dresser. Pure bliss.

Philip was out in California all last week, looking for a place for us to live. I was under strict instruction to lay low and not go into labor while he was gone under any circumstances. I had my neighbors on call just in case, but fortunately I was still big and pregnant when he returned, with hardly a contraction to speak of. And happily, we found a great place, and spent the entire weekend figuring out where we would put furniture and picking out said furniture. We're both giddy with excitement about playing interior designer over these next few weeks and months.

Since my induction date is this Friday, I'm spending the entire week in preparation mode. I have a lengthy to-do list, and hoping to get through everything by Friday, including running last minute errands, making a few food items to throw in the freezer for the next few weeks (and stocking up the fridge and pantry), getting all the laundry done, and deep cleaning the house one more time. All of those are enough to probably throw me into labor -- so maybe come Friday I won't even need the pitocin. We shall see!

A Little Update

Just the other day, I realized how long it's been since I've posted a pregnancy picture. The weeks are FLYING by, and time is completely getting away from me, so in the last seven weeks I only have three pictures to show. But here they are anyway, and holy cow, I've gotten bigger!

belt: cozy fashions

scarf: gift from my mom, altered to be an infinity scarf

necklace: c/o dainty deals (shop)

I'm now less than four weeks from my due date, and I'm shocked at how fast this pregnancy has gone! It does seem like February, when we got our positive test, was ages ago, but suddenly it's October and here we are. Crazy how fast this year has flown.

I went in for my first weekly doctor checkup on Tuesday, and because of our imminent move to California, and the fact that I'm already progressing (1 cm dilated and 50% effaced) they are willing to induce me early so Philip will be here for the birth (thank goodness). So although I haven't scheduled an induction date, I can guarantee that I'll have a baby by October 26th at the latest, and that's only three. weeks. away!!!  I'm hoping I can get myself to naturally go into labor and avoid an induction, but I'm so grateful to have an induction as a backup to put my mind at ease. The last thing I want is to have a baby alone, or for Philip to be forced to move when the baby is only a day or two old.  Grateful, grateful, grateful for modern medicine and helpful doctors.

Despite the imminent arrival of baby #2 and our upcoming move, I'm feeling really relaxed and calm. For me, nesting kicked in around 12 weeks, so the house has been turned upside down, everything has been weeded through and re-organized, and everything has been deep cleaned multiple times.  So moving should go really smoothly, even with a newborn, because Philip's company is doing everything for us, including packing our boxes. Now our biggest hurdle is finding a place to live, and once that's taken care of, we will hardly have a care in the world :)

So now it's just a waiting game for the next three weeks -- we are all so excited to meet this little man!

For the Birds

bird top: old navy (shop), cardigan: target, jeans: h&m maternity, belt: cozy, shoes: payless (shop), wrists: gifts and c/o sira and mara

Today I'm 33 1/2 weeks pregnant, and I've suddenly entered this awkward phase where I hardly feel pregnant. I've been doing pilates the last two weeks and we recently got an incredibly comfortable new mattress, both of which are making feeling better than ever (especially my back, even though I've been on my feet a ton lately), so sometimes I wake up in the mornings and honestly forget that I'm pregnant.

Yes, this little dude still moves around a ton and I'm constantly getting kicked in the ribs, but besides that, my basketball sized stomach hardly bothers me at all and I often forget that it's even there (until I try to squeeze through a small space and get stuck...).

Along with this weird phase comes some shopping troubles. I've been wanting to pick up a few new things for fall, but do I buy maternity clothes? Or non maternity clothes? I'm gravitating toward the non-maternity sections because in my mind I will totally fit into them, and even once I remember that I won't, I tell myself, "in another 6 1/2 weeks I won't be pregnant anymore, so better to think ahead." But 6 1/2 weeks is still quite a ways away, and these last few weeks are probably the most important time to have maternity clothes as I get bigger by the moment.

So to compromise, I pick the flowiest top I can find and buy a size up -- which is exactly what I did with this bird print top from Old Navy that I'm wearing. It'll probably become a tight squeeze through these last six weeks, and then I'll probably be drowning in it once that pregnant belly is gone, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, and at least I have something to fit into right this moment as my closet possibilites shrink ever smaller.

See? These are the problems that I'm dealing with. High stress and urgently important, obviously.

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Next Tuesday is Round 2 of my sisters and my new blog series, Sister's Share It All. We are featuring our favorite item in our closet and then showing a few different ways that we wear it. We'll be having a link up again and we'd love for you to join! So get your posts ready for next Tuesday, September 18th. We're excited to see your favorite item in your closet and at least one way that you style it! 

27 + 29

Aaaaand...another little update on the pregnancy. I'm now 30 1/2 weeks along and this baby is over fifteen inches and almost three pounds (which babycenter.com somehow relates to the size of a cabbage...have you ever seen a fifteen inch long cabbage before?! Cause I have not...).

I'm still feeling great, although he is the most wiggly baby which has caused a little bit of nausea in the evenings. At my last appointment they told me I was borderline anemic, which explained a lot of my tiredness and frequent light headed-ness. Now that I've been on an iron supplement for the last week, I'm suddenly feeling way better and have a ton more energy. Hallelujah.

Peanut started preschool yesterday and is now going to be gone twice a week in the mornings. With all this renewed energy, I'm planning to get all the baby prep finished up in these next nine or ten weeks while he's gone. With any luck I'll get everything done in that short amount of time without going into labor. Here's hoping!

23 + 25

With all of our trips the last few weeks, I've hardly had a chance to take my weekly pregnancy photos. I managed to sneak one in the last day of our Poconos trip (week 23), and then completely forgot during the week when we were actually home (week 24). And then I managed to snap one of my 25 week self two days before I reached 26 weeks.

This weekly picture thing is getting harder and harder.

But regardless of all that, I am loving this pregnancy so far. Yes, I'm tired, and I've had a little back trouble the last few weeks, but besides that I feel great and our little man is constantly reminding us of his presence with jabs, jumps, and wiggles.

At the very end of week 23, the night before we left Pennsylvania, I had a little bleeding scare -- something even more scary when the last time bleeding occurred it resulted in a miscarriage. All night I prayed to keep feeling that little guy, just to put my mind at ease, and he was more than obliging. In fact, it may have been his most active day to date. So every little kick I've felt since then is a reminder that he's healthy and strong in there, and that's exactly what we like. And after a doctors visit, it was confirmed that everything is still going well, and we're so grateful for that.

Week 22

mint belt: cozy

Only three things to note this week:

1. I'm freaking exhausted.
2. I actually started working on the nursery -- not just day dreaming. I've decided on fabrics (most of them), a paint color, a new bed for Peanut, and we've even started moving furniture. I am so stoked. 
3. The horrible, awful hormonal breakouts that I've gotten with both pregnancies are fiiiiiiinally coming to a close. I've gone almost an entire week with an almost 100% clear complexion. IT'S A MIRACLE. (oh, and I should go talk to that dermatologist that gave me some topical cream and said I would be good as new in ten weeks. It was fifteen...but not that anyone was counting).

And that pretty much sums up week 22.

21 Weeks

lipstick: covergirl "fairytale"

Since we found out the gender last week, being able to call this baby "he" instead of "it" is my favorite thing. Suddenly it's all feeling much more real -- although my belly popping out may have something to do with that as well. We have officially decided on a name since, so we're calling him that fairly often, and Peanut hasn't hesitated to join in on that fun. I love hearing him refer to the baby, and I think he's starting to grasp the idea of an actual baby joining our family. Every time we see another small baby, I point it out and explain that it's a baby just like our baby, and then he looks at me with a semi-understanding, semi-freaked out look on his face. Good thing we still have a few months to get him used to the idea...

With such an active toddler in the house, I'm having to protect my belly all the time so this poor baby doesn't get smashed -- so far so good -- but I think we're getting a small glimpse into future of little brother :)

Despite a never-ending cold, and a nasty toothache this week, things continue to be smooth sailing.  I'm in full nesting mode and spend all day thinking about how to re-organize the house, how to redesign the nursery, and how I should start going through all those baby boy clothes that we have stored away.

This week he's 10 1/2 inches long, and it's majorly obvious with all the limbs flailing around inside of me. His favorite spot, so it seems, is way down low, as far down in my belly as he can reach. When he's so low he doesn't kick, but mostly just pushes outward and downward -- if he's already getting cramped in there at only twenty one weeks, we'll see how he does at forty.

It's a....

We are THRILLED to be adding another BOY to our family! As usual, Peanut was right (seriously, he's always right about everything).

I'm already in love with this sweet little face!

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and in other news, I'm also thrilled to be featured as one of twelve stylish moms on Babble! Such an honor to be featured among all those other stylish ladies! Check it out!

Guess!

pink dress: target maternity (circa 2009), pink cardigan: target, braided belt: thrifted :: blue dress: target (shop), blue cardigan: cozy fashions, leopard belt: target

We have our gender ultrasound today! 

What do you think it is -- a girl or a boy?

19 Weeks & Giveaway Winner!

belt: target, lipstick: maybelline "are you red-dy"

This week I'm 19 weeks.  I'm kind of shocked how fast the first half of my pregnancy has gone -- I know you don't even find out until about 4 weeks, but still...it seems like this one is flying by!

This tiny bebe continues to be as active as ever, yet somehow, Philip still hasn't felt any kicks...how that's even possible, I don't know. I guess it only saves the cartwheels for Mama.

So far, Peanut has mostly been pretty neutral when it comes to talking about the baby. But the last week as he's seen Philip put his hand on my belly and try to feel kicks, he's suddenly become really interested in copying his Dad. I love seeing his little chubby hands on my belly, holding perfectly still, not really know what he's really doing. He's also convinced that he can hear the baby if he puts his ear up to my belly, so he's been doing that nearly every day, and breaking into the biggest grins when he hears my stomach growl or gurgle.

I'm majorly anxious to find out the gender (next week, so long as baby cooperates!), mostly so I can start going through the bags and bags of Peanut's old clothes, or start getting new baby girl clothes!

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And congratulations to Ciera, winner of the Lisa Leonard $50 gift certificate!

Shoot me an email to claim your prize!

Seventeen Weeks

thrifted belt, lipstick: revlon #668 "primrose"

This week I hit seventeen weeks. I'm finally starting to feel like I look pregnant (although this dress certainly doesn't hide anything, so that little bump has been visible for quite a while), and it feels loads better than just looking like I ate a few too many donuts!

I've started feeling this baby at least once a day. Usually it's in the middle of the night, and I wake up and feel it moving around, so I just lay there on my back and have a special little moment with my tiny babe. It makes me laugh because he or she has a favorite spot (just to the left of my belly button), and if I've been sleeping on my side and then move to my back, the baby always rolls its way back to the favorite spot and then just stays there, comfy as can be.

The strange thing about this pregnancy is that I feel like from the very first time I felt the baby move, it was just like feeling a much larger baby move around inside my belly. With Peanut, there were the regular butterflies at the beginning. With this baby, it was like a 30-week sized baby moving and rolling around in there, but only at fourteen weeks. And now, at only seventeen weeks, I've felt the baby from the outside, and even felt a limb or head or bum or something (it was pointy). This is obviously a very busy baby!

I still have no ideas about the gender, but I have started referring to it as a "he" more often than a "she." Although I think that's only because I associate being pregnant with being pregnant with a boy.

 Only three more weeks until we find out!

Fifteen Weeks & Giveaway Winner!

This week I hit fifteen weeks. No significant growth since my twelve week picture, but I can definitely tell the baby is getting bigger in there. Since Sunday, when I felt movement for the first time, I've felt that little apple-sized bebe squirm around in there a few more times, and the "four inches from head to rump" is actually pretty obvious.

When I was pregnant with Peanut, I was so sure it was a boy from the very beginning (except at 16 weeks when the nurse told me the heartbeat rate typically meant it was a girl...lies), but with this baby I have absolutely NO intuition. It's kind of strange, not feeling one gender even a little bit more than the other. If you ask Peanut, he always says it's a boy, so maybe he knows more than we do...but still five more weeks until we know for sure.

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And now for our giveaway winner! Thanks to everyone who entered the Daisy Rae Boutique giveaway! The lucky winner was #88. . . .

Congratulations to Abby (unless it was Ryan who was wanting that sequin top...har, har)! Email me to claim your prize!

And for those of you who didn't win, not to worry -- Daisy Rae is offered 25% off to everyone else with discount code merrick25.

Fourteen

dress: target - maternity (shop)

cardigan: cozy

belt: macy's

flats: payless

bracelets: charlotte russe

I have a few things to say today, so we'll go bullet point style:

•  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your really kind comments on Friday's post.  You are all a bunch of gems. Really, every single one meant so much to me.
• I loved all the comments from those of you who had already guessed our little secret! Because of the miscarriage, we waited a while to tell, (just to be careful) but the longer we waited, the harder it was to keep that little bump hidden :) Obviously, quite a few of you were not fooled.
• Just like my pregnancy with Peanut, I've felt great from day one. No sickness, no nausea, nothing. I'm really counting my blessings on this one. 
• We have absolutely no preference for a boy or girl -- just a healthy baby!
• Despite the similarities in these two pregnancies so far, there is one large difference -- I'm carrying this baby much lower than Peanut. I love it because I can actually wear a belt without constant suffocation.
• Today I hit fourteen weeks! 

Happy Monday!

 Tomorrow we have an awesome giveaway, so check back and be sure to enter! 

The Happiest Refashion

Last summer, as I was perusing Pinterest, I came across this fun weekly pregnancy series.

 via

During my pregnancy with Peanut, I did a weekly maternity series, which I loved so much that I decided to do it with all my future babies.  When I saw this series, I instantly fell in love -- especially with the idea of wearing the same dress the whole forty weeks. 

So when I got pregnant at the end of July last year, I went on the hunt for the perfect dress, but couldn't find anything. After a couple weeks of hunting, I found an adorable striped maternity top at Gap, and decided to make my own. I bought two shirts (one in my regular size and one a size up), then chopped the larger one off right under the armpits, removed the side ruching, line up the stripes, and sewed the two shirts together. Voila, maternity dress! I loved it. [UPDATE: Full dress tutorial HERE]

 The day before I was going to take my 10 week photo, I started bleeding, and, devastatingly, the pregnancy ended in miscarriage.

In the months after last September, I kept the dress at the back of the closet, waiting month after month for when I could use it again. I wore it a few times, but it just made me kind of sad, so it mostly just hung there...waiting.

And finally, at the end of February, its time came again.

We are over the moon :)

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due date: October 29th