Care Package

When Jake is deployed, I love to put together care packages. It's always hard to come up with items to include that won't get too expensive. I found some great items at the Dollar Tree....for $1 each!

 

 

Wet wipes are handy since it is very VERY hot where he is right now!

I think the Glade air freshener will be used since he is living in a tent with a few other guys. That has to be stinky!

Jake has been complaining about the noise of the airplanes, so I thought earplugs might be helpful!

He also mentioned that the gym does not supply sweat towels, and he can only find wash cloths and bath towels at the store there, so I found a couple of hand towel sized towels for him to use.

I always throw in all of his car parts catalogs that show up in the mail, some snacks, and drink powders to mix with water. He never wants to bring home more luggage than he takes, so I never send anything that he will feel the need to bring home.

New Master Bedroom

In August 2011, I decorated the master bedroom, then later blogged about it here. As you can see in that post, I never really liked how it turned out. It was a hodge podge of lots of elements that I liked, but I didn't really like the overall effect...just too modern feeling for me. Soon after I finished it, I sold the duvet cover, curtains, and pillows, so it's been very plain since then.

I had lots of other projects going on, like redecorating the living room, redecorating the guest room, and most recently moving the guest room downstairs and prepping to decorate the nursery, so the master bedroom was put on the back burner.

A couple of weekends ago, I started to clean out the old guest room/new nursery closet and found all of the Americana themed decor that used to be in the living room. If you'll remember, I've painted the living room a total of 3 times since we moved in 3 years ago (my name is Maggie and I am addicted to decorating and REdecorating!) Well, the very first theme I had in there was Americana, which you can see here. I kept all of the decor with the intention of one day moving it into the master bedroom. On a whim, I decided to paint the master bedroom before the nursery, so I could use all of that decor.

It took a total of 3 weekend (and 4 coats of white to cover the brown trim) but it's finally done! This was a budget redo. My only expense was paint! I already had all of the Americana decor, reused the curtains from the old guest bedroom, and the quilt was a wedding gift from my mama. So far I'm loving it...but...as you can see, I left space for a headboard...which is very much needed. I gave Jake a strong hint today that a headboard would make a very nice anniversary gift this July!

Here is my new master bedroom:

I'm not loving the color of the curtains...so I may splurge and buy new ones, possibly maroon...or should I go navy?

Definitely need a headboard!

Week 20...Gender Reveal!

Week 20

This has been such an exciting week! On Wednesday, I hit 20 weeks and got to have my second ultrasound. We tried to Skype during the ultrasound, but we couldn't get the video to work, so we ended up just talking on the phone during instead. He still got to hear everything that I saw. I was also given a DVD again with over 9 minutes of the ultrasound highlights.

Let me remind you what we were thinking it would be. We were both hoping for a boy, but I had a strong "intuition" that it was a girl.

Well...

 

it's a BOY!!!

 

The ultrasound tech stopped at a spot and said "This is the gender shot...do you see anything" and I said "Well, it looks like there's something sticking out right there" She confirmed that it is a boy and the first thing Jake said was "Well, I was going to buy a new rifle, so I guess I better buy two!"

 

Seeing him on the ultrasound was amazing! I just can't believe how they are able to get such great shots and can tell what everything is. The entire time, he was in an funny position, with his feet up by his forehead and his butt sticking up. It certainly didn't look comfortable, but he seemed to be fine with it.

 

Everything looked perfect on the baby, but she did mention that she was going to let the OB know that I have a low lying placenta. Low lying placenta just means that the placenta attached close to the birth canal and could at some point cover the birth canal, causing the need for a possible C-section. She told me (which I confirmed later by looking online) that in 95% of cases with low lying placenta, the placenta moves up as the uterus stretches upward and that once it's time to give birth it should not be an issue. One good thing about this is that I will get to have another ultrasound at around 28 weeks, just to be sure that it is indeed moving up. Usually Tricare (military health insurance) will only cover 2 ultrasounds, 8 weeks and 20 weeks, but I will get to have at least 1 more!

 

Everyone's first question when I tell them it's a boy is to ask if we have a name picked out. That's a tough one. If it were a girl, we both agreed on a name long ago. But boy names are tricky, we both have a favorite and it doesn't sound like either of us are going to give in anytime soon. I love Reid, and Jake loves Cooper. The middle name will for sure be Wayne (Jake's middle name which was passed down from his dad.) I call him Reid when I'm talking to him, but Jake refers to him as Cooper, so I really don't know which one of us will give in first. I guess we will see in a few months!

 

Another very exciting thing that happened this week...I for sure felt him move for the first time. On Thursday, I had an appointment with the eye doctor, and while I was sitting down, leaning forward, with my chin on the strap, concentrating on keeping my eyes wide open, I felt a light push outward just under my belly button. I held in my excitement (so the eye dr. wouldn't find it odd) but I was certain it was the baby and not just gas.

 

That next morning, Friday morning, I woke up to light pushes all around my belly button, which just confirmed to me that it was for sure him that I was feeling. I joke that he is probable full on kicking me, but it just feels like a light tap from inside because he is still so tiny (about 7 inches from head to rump and 13 ounces) Again this morning, Saturday morning, I felt him as I was waking up, so it seems that early morning is his active time. It's amazing to feel, but it makes me not want to get up. I just want to lay there all day feeling him move.

 

Today, I finally finished painting the master bedroom, so I'll be able to start decorating in there tomorrow and hope to have new photos to post this week.

Weeks 18-19

Just this past week, I feel like this bump has really popped out. Looking at the pictures, it doesn't look much bigger last last week, but wow it feels big and it feels full!

Week 18

Week 19

A funny fact about these two weeks...I started painting the master bedroom last weekend (was supposed to be painting the nursery and on a whim decided to paint the master first instead) so I stripped the room of everything but the mattress. Because of that I've been sleeping on the recliner every night and I have to admit that it's more comfy than the bed. I guess once I'm done painting and get the bedroom put back together, we'll see if I actually move back to the bed or stay on the recliner.

This week is a very exciting week! I have an appointment on Wednesday (I'll be exactly 20 weeks) and get my 20 week ultrasound...which means I'll probably find out the gender of the baby! Jake is going to try to skype during the ultrasound so he can find out at the same time as me. I have a feeling it's a girl...but we will see!

Pregnancy - Keeping It Real

Oh man....that last couple of weeks have been rough. I'm really FEELING pregnant now. My belly feels so big and there is alot of pressure...and my heels and back are killing me by 5pm. It's definitly starting to feel real.

Everyone wants to know if I've felt the baby move yet...but no...I'm pretty sure I haven't. The only thing I've felt is what feels like something scrapping the inside of my body kind of left and down from my belly button. Since this happens multiple times a day I thought maybe that was the baby, but everyone tells me that it will feel like butterflies...and that what I'm feeling is probably round ligament pain.

I told myself it's ok that I haven't felt it, that they say most people feel it between 18-22 weeks, with some as early as 16 and some as late as 24. But with so many people telling me that I should feel it by now because they felt it at 16/17/18 weeks, I'm starting to wonder. I know the baby is fine and I know everyone is different, but I haven't talked to anyone yet who HADN'T felt the baby by now.

On a positive note, I've noticed more of the 2nd trimester energy lately. On work days, I'm still exhausted by quiting time, but weekends are fabulous! A couple of weekends ago, I had a spurt of energy and cleaned that entire upstairs! Then last weekend, I cleaned up the front and back yards, set up the front porch, and started painting the master bedroom. The spurts of energy are great, but I've noticed that after working all weekend, my body (specifically my back) is really sore and worn out.

But I have to make the most of the energy I have right? It's the weekend again and I feel like I'm ready to go, so I'm going to do a little cleaning this morning, then I'm going to a networking lunch for the pregnant spouses from Jake's squadron, then when I get home I plan to continue on the master bedroom painting.