26 Week Update

How far along: 26 weeks 6 days

Size of baby:  Average = A head of lettuce? Length of a scallion? A zucchini??

Physical symptoms: This wasn't a majorly nauseous week!! Hurray!!!! MAJOR restless legs when I lay down STILL... like, so bad. Therefore, EXHAUSTED. "Pregnancy brain" isn't AS bad this week either. Definitely still feel like everything inside me has no room. And HOT.And still congested with a constant runny/gross nose. Like the past million weeks.

Weight gain/loss: about 17-19lbs depending on the day, yikes

Maternity clothes: Mostly maternity tops or "fat shirts" with belts- as in, shirts from before I lost 30 lbs before getting pregnant, with something tied above my belly. Non-maternity skirts and larger sized nylons still fit. Hit up eBay this week, there's a maternity denim skirt on it's way! And a few things are still too big- an old navy shirt, a dress I got to wear to my cousin's wedding (which is in a few weeks), some leggings. So that's awesome and stinky all at once.

Stretch marks: There MIGHT be one forming from like out of my belly button. E swears he can't see it but my belly button has been SO stretched lately and I really think I see one.

Sleep: Hahahahaha.... no. Once I fall asleep, if I'm left alone I can sleep for like maybe 7 hours. Maybe. But falling asleep is next to impossible, thanks to the restless legs. I read it could be an iron deficiency. Or a something-else deficiency. So I'm gonna try to be way better about my vitamins. I guess.

Best moment since last week: Hmm. Idk. We didn't do much this week. I played Taboo for the first time ever this Shabbos, with friends who are moving to FL in under 2 weeks... that was fun. On Saturday night we went out to dinner with a friend of E's from Brazil and his wife, and we kind of splurged to "keep up" with what they were ordering, and then they secretly paid the whole bill. Which is always awkward, but pretty nice.

4th of July fell on a Friday, so the fireworks were Friday night, so I watched the Manhattan ones off in the distance out our window while E was at the synagogue. There were actually a few shows out my window, really cool.

I switched the knobs on our nightstand.... with E's help. I'll try to remember to post pics. Thankfully I remembered to take a "before". 

Movement: Homeboy or Homegirl has been seriouslyyyy kicking hard this week... it actually REALLY hurts when she or he gets me in the... bladder? Cervix? lol

Cravings/aversions: All coffee is starting to taste "off". Sesame chicken with mashed potatoes has been a huge craving this week- I might've ordered it 3x. Including tonight. I'm eating it right now... What. Also, lox and cream cheese has been a recurring them. And those chocolate coffee caramel balls, but not as bad as before. 

Gender: Confirmed!! But Idk if we're going to tell...

Labor signs: Hopefully not anyyytime soon.

Belly button:  Innie but the skin around it is starting to get tight, EXTREMELY tight post-eating, so...

What I miss: Same as last week- Sleeping is definitely #1 on this list. I'd love an ice cold summer beer too. And like an extra 3 feet worth of internal body space.

What I am looking forward to: OMG 3rd trimester starts tomorrow?! 

At the end of the month we have my cousin's wedding in NH, and E's side of the family is throwing us a baby shower so those'll be fun. First time seeing anyone in our family, besides my father in law, since we started showing. :)

And in August we're going to E's family's lake cottage in Canada. Not excited to drive 12+ hours to get there, but Yesssss to getting out of the city.

K I think I covered everything............... who knows. :)

25 Week Update

Posting this a day late (we're officially 26 weeks today!) because of everything going on in Israel. I just couldn't bring myself to post yesterday after the bodies of the 3 teenagers were found, murdered by terrorists. E and I are both heartbroken, enraged, scared for our many friends living in Israel, etc. It's been all of the feelings imaginable all at once and a numbness at the same time. Whenever anything like this happens, I tend to take it to heart and kind of shut down, so I'm trying to be aware of that trend and stay present and strong and.... Whatever. It's an enormous tragedy and completely infuriating and I wish the rest of the world would wake up and see it as such. 

How far along: 25 weeks 6 days

Size of baby:  Average = an eggplant?! But my homie's been measuring bigger. Also the uterus is supposed to be soccer ball sized- appropriate for the World Cup. 

Physical symptoms: Some nausea (some vomiting). MAJOR restless legs when I lay down. Therefore, EXHAUSTED. I actually was able to fall right asleep 3 nights in a row(!!!!) but that ended on Saturday night.  Peeing every 5 seconds. Irrationally emotional. "Pregnancy brain"- can't remember ANYTHING. Generally feeling like everything inside me has no room. HOT HOT HOT. Anxiety cityyyy. And omg heartburn.

Weight gain/loss: 17-18lbs

Maternity clothes: Mostly maternity tops. Non-maternity skirts and larger sized nylons still fit. Some non maternity dresses. Hit up eBay this week!

Stretch marks: Not yet! 

Sleep: Hahahahaha.... no. Actually did sleep 3 nights in a row and felt like a new person. But then the insomnia started up again Saturday night- we were out late with friends who were in town and I guess I missed my "sleep window" and barely slept. Sunday night I was EXHAUSTED but wired from a friend's daughter's wedding(!!!) and anxious about having jury duty the next morning so I slept less than an hour. Thankfully I fell asleep right away Monday night. 

Best moment since last week: On Shabbos, someone I'd seen the week before walked into the room and was like "WHOA- you POPPED!!" So apparently I'm realllllly showing now. Also, at jury duty the baby was kicking me reallllly hard and it was moving my whole belly, and the person two seats away from me saw it out of the corner of her eye, did a triple take and mouthed to me, "Holy $#!+!!!!", which made me laugh. 

According to the Jewish calendar, our anniversary was this week so on that day E made plans for brunch and then for us to take the train an a ferry to a little town up the Hudson River. But we got off to a late start and missed "brunch" and I was emotional and couldn't find anything on the lunch menu I wanted to eat. So we left and tried another place but I realllly just wanted breakfast food so we ended up going to a little hole in the wall place in our neighborhood that was still serving pancakes and eggs. And that was super nice. We go sandwiches to go, and ended up just going to Prospect Park because it was crazy hot (88* and humid) and I wasn't sure how long I'd last in the heat, etc. We didn't do much- just sat in a nice shady spot by a waterfall and chatted. When it inevitably did get too hot we walked to a 7-eleven and got Slurpees and took the bus back to our neighborhood, ducked into a toy store to buy a few board games, and played them all afternoon in the AC. Really nice afternoon actually. Here's a pic from the park:

Thursday night we also went to a goodbye party for one of E's friends from college in Manhattan.

On Shabbos, on the 3rd or 4th attempt, I finally beat E at Risk! We had a quiet Friday night meal at home, just the two of us. And for Shabbos lunch we went to friends who'd involved mutual friends who are movig to FL in two weeks. The Shabbos before a Jewish woman's wedding, it's customary to have a get-together for all the female friends and relatives, so I headed to my friend's house for that. There were a million desserts and yummy things there and tons of friends also attended. 

Saturday night we went out to dinner with friends who were in town from Boston. I wasn't feeling great but it was still fun. 

Sunday was this much-anticipated wedding and it was beautiful.  We saw  friends from Montreal, Long Island, Boston, western MA, NJ, Israel, etc. It was really nice.  Here's what I wore after the more summer-appropriate dress I'd planned on wearing turned out to still be too big and I had a total emotional meltdown over it, haha: 

Monday I had jury duty, and was there for 8 hours and almost got picked but didn't (thank Gd- sitting for that long was reallllly hard). Now I'm exempt for 8 years. Yes!

Afterwards, E picked me up and we grabbed dinner on the way home. This is what E got- he def made the best food choice that night (his lemonade/beer Shandy is in the background, I had a homemade ginger soda): 

Movement: Still kicking. A lot. And hard. It moves my whole belly most of the time now. :) 

Cravings/aversions: I gave up on the no coffee thing and was able to sleep those 3 nights this week, so I'm not going overboard with coffee but also not avoiding it. But the point is, I still hate homemade coffee.  

I still can't go near chicken or most other meat, or fish other than lox or whitefish salad. Apparently this kid is reallllllly Jewish.

Strawberry cheesecake has been my jam lately. I've only had it like 3x but.... Still. Also, these caramel chocolate balls. All healthy choices. I bought a big thing of berry-carrot juice and am going to try and drink that when I need something sweet but, y'know. 

Gender: Confirmed!! But Idk if we're going to tell...

Labor signs: Hopefully not anyyytime soon.

Belly button:  Innie but the skin around it is starting to get tight, so...

What I miss: Sleeping is definitely #1 on this list. I'd love an ice cold summer beer too. And like an extra 3 feet worth of internal body space.

What I am looking forward to: Since I'm posting late, we are 1 week away from the 3rd trimester- what!? That's terrifying and exciting all at once. I started slooooowly working on the nursery this week (a test swatch of fabric I'd ordered arrived, I hung some paint swatches on the wall to compare, I stuck a framed picture we'd bought last year up on the wall next to them for comparison, and we rearranged the furniture to make room for a crib- and E finally downsized the enormous amount of stuff his parents had dropped off when they moved last year!!!)

We've also got my cousin's wedding in NH and E's side of the family is throwing us a baby shower at the end of the month so those'll be fun. First time seeing anyone in our family, besides my father in law, since we started showing. :) 

24 Week Update

How far along: 24 weeks 6 days

Size of baby:  Average = an ear of corn but my homie's bigger. Also, my uterus is apparently the size of a soccer ball. Cute.

Physical symptoms: Some nausea (some vomiting). MAJOR restless legs when I lay down. Therefore, EXHAUSTED. Insomnia (big time). Peeing every 5 seconds. Irrationally emotional. "Pregnancy brain"- can't remember ANYTHING. Generally feeling like everything inside me has no room.

Weight gain/loss: 13-17 lbs depending on the day

Maternity clothes: Mostly maternity tops. Non-maternity skirts and larger sized nylons still fit. Still also have some non maternity dresses that still work.

Stretch marks: Not yet!

Sleep: Sleep? What is this word? I am MAJORLY exhausting and dealing with insomnia and major restless legs at night. Normally it's super frustrating but not horrendous bc I can entertain myself (I've gotten reallllly into sudoku on my Kindle during this time). But on Shabbos I totally lost it. I was just so freaking tired and too tired to read a magazine or book and there was no way to really entertain myself. Lotsssss of tears involved. Poor, poor E.

Best moment since last week: Viability?? I know it's not a definite by any means, but it's one more minor sigh of relief for this paranoid, baby-carrying, chick. 

Our anniversary- 5 YEARS!!! Geez Louise. We haven't actually celebrated yet but might do something Wednesday or Thursday this week. Not sure what yet. E got me some gorgeous flowers for Shabbos though: 

We had a doctor appointment on Friday and it was kind of quick and to the point but he did a two second long ultrasound and the chickadee's heart was beating away and there were kicks all around. 

The morning after Father's Day (during week 23 actually, whoops!) I posted the photo from last week on Instagram to spr of "announce" it all... And the response was overwhelming and so touching. We're stillllll keeping it off of Facebook but it was nice to sort of "out" ourselves on some form of social media. 

Ahh and on Shabbos we saw a bunch of old friends- a couple we know were in town for the weekend en route to live in Germany for 3 years wth their 5 kids!! He's an army chaplain. And another friend, from Boston, was in town for Shabbos too. And this guy I went to college with had just gotten engaged and his fiancé lives in our neighborhood so he was also in town for Shabbos. 

Pretty busy and fun week!

Movement: Baby is moving a littttle less than he/she was two weeks ago (back then it was legit nonstop) but still kicking me. A lot. And hard. 

Cravings/Aversions: Homemade coffee is still not cutting it. I've been going coffee-free as much as possible in hopes that it'll help me sleep but so far, no dice. So I might keep trying that for a few more days and see if it helps and if not, I'm just gonna embrace my coffee needs. Bc insomnia makes coffee necessary, not just nice. 

Still on a Parmesan kick (I eat plain slices of it, haha). And I'm loving Popsicles. I'm either having a major allergies flair up or have a cold so my nose is constantly running and my mouth and throat are really dry so they're coming in handy- we bought some lemon ginger tea on Friday and I plan on making some Popsicles out of it for when I'm super nauseous. I'll let you know how that goes. I was realllllly into a broccoli salad someone served this Shabbos. And sourdough bread. 

Oh! And I realllllllllllllly wanted crab Rangoons but no kosher restaurants make them soooo we made our own "crab" Rangoons (with Kani/fake crab) on Thursday night and they were amazeballs (we used this recipe but substituted 6 kani sticks and used eggroll wrappers instead of wonton ones):

I still can't go near chicken or most other meat. And someone served gazpacho at a Shabbos meal this week and I could barely look at it. 

Gender: Confirmed!! But Idk if we're going to tell...

Labor signs: Hopefully not anyyytime soon.

Belly button:  Innie but the skin around it is starting to get tight, so...

What I miss: Sleeping is definitely #1 on this list.

What I am looking forward to: Doing something fun for our anniversary! I can't believe it's been 5 freaking years. :) I posted this pic of FB and Instagram: 

23 Week Update

How far along: 23 weeks 6 days

Size of baby:  Average = large mango, length of green onion, eggplant?! ...but the kid has been measuring large for months. We have a Dr appt on Friday so I'll hopefully be able to report back next week with actually #s.

Physical symptoms: Some nausea (some vomiting). MAJOR restless legs when I lay down. EXHAUSTED. Insomnia (big time). Peeing every 5 seconds. Sore everything. Irrationally emotional. "Pregnancy brain"- I can't remember ANYTHING. I couldn't find matches before Shabbos this week and freaked out to E that the "candle lighters" were missing. Belly has really "popped". Generally feeling like everything inside me has no room- I had a full on crazy person moment this week bc I was hot and exhausted and just felt so full EVERYWHERE in my body and sat on the floor and cried from frustration. Which is awesome bc we've still got 4 months to go. But E was legit amazing and sat on the floor with me and helped me calm down.

Weight gain/loss: 13-15 lbs depending on the day but it's usually 13.

Maternity clothes: Mostly maternity tops. Non-maternity skirts and larger sized nylons still fit. I also have some non maternity dresses that still work.
 
Stretch marks: Not yet! 

Sleep: Majorly exhausted. Restless legs at night are still in full swing. Insomniac over here.

Best moment since last week: This week was kiiiind of uneventful. It kinda flew by, actually. A friend got married so I got to see one of my besties who lives in Canada, who's due a week before us, and also another bestie from NJ at the wedding so that was super fun. Check the pic from before that wedding at the bottom. :) 

And Father's Day. We didn't really do much but I made E "breakfast" (this afternoon) and we finished off my Birthday ice cream cake and we had a pretty sappy conversation about how happy we are. 

Oh and I got roped into going to a work meeting even though I don't really work there anymore, but I'm currently still on payroll and they promised me pizza. Except that there was NO PIZZA. But I got to see a bunch of old coworkers and they were all suuuuper excited that I'm pregnant (still SO WEIRD to say/type) and everyone touched my belly and it was weird and uncomfortable but also nice in an I-still-hate-this sort of way.

Movement: Baby is moving a lot! A little less than before, but still often. It's (mostly) more like a few kicks at a time now instead of like 15 mins worth of Irish step dancing now. But, obviously as I'm writing this, the kid hasn't stopped kicking me for like 10 mins straight.

Cravings/Aversions: Ob-freaking-sessed with iced cafe mocha from this coffee shop in our neighborhood. But it was getting out of hand so E convinced me to start making coffee at home this week (using the fancy "latte" maker he got me for my birthday last year). So we're experimenting with that- so far it's notttt quite cutting it in the craving department but it's saving us money. Whatever. ;) Still Kettle brand salt and vinegar chips and lemonade, but I haven't had any chips in like  week- I just want them so bad. I got a crazy craving for Parmesan cheese last night so I bought some tonight but puked before I could eat it so that's on hold. Cute. AND I've also been super craving these spinach/goat cheese/roasted red pepper wraps from the same coffee shop/cafe my iced cafe mochas are from, but when they didn't have any left the other day I bought all of the ingredients for them from the store and have eaten one (or two) almost every day ever since. E claims that I don't have any actual food cravings, I just have a spending-a-crapload-of-money-on-expesive foods craving. ;) Oh and I had a temporary but huuuuuge craving for watermelon at my friend's wedding and ate like 90% of what there was at the dessert buffet.

Last week's craving was that chimichurri dip, but I vomited after eating it once last week and haven't been able to go near it since. But we had 1.5 containers of it left so I've been putting it in E's sandwiches for work every day so at least he's happy!

I still can't go near chicken or most other meat. Although I did have a little bit of a cold cuts wrap at the wedding's cocktail hour and that was super good.

Gender: Confirmed!! But Idk if we're going to tell...

Labor signs: Hopefully not anyyytime soon.

Belly button:  Innie

What I miss: Sleeping. Sushi. Not having a million aches and pains at any given time. Being able to go 20 mins without peeing!

What I am looking forward to: Viability?! Our doctor appointment on Friday, definitely. And we might do something fun for our anniversary this week (it's actually on Saturday but bc of Shabbos we'll probably celebrate a couple of days early).

And here's a pic, as promised: 

So Not Ready

Holy crap the 3rd trimester starts in 3 weeks + 1 day. I AM SO NOT READY FOR ANY OF THIS. 

22 Week Update

How far along: 22 weeks 6 days

Size of baby:  Average = Papaya, Spaghetti squash (WHAT), but the kid has been measuring large for months.

Physical symptoms: Some nausea (some vomiting). Super constipated. Super bloated after eating. Restless legs when I lay down. EXHAUSTED. Insomnia (big time). Super thirsty. Need to pee every 5 seconds. Food aversions. Sore feet and back. Headaches, stuffy nose (allergies!). Irrationally emotional- E found a fun quiz on Buzzfeed or something and asked me to take it. He's a biggg time history buff and it was something like "can you pass a middle school history test?". I got to the 3rd question and was sort of struggling (history's not my subject) and started SOBBING because he was "setting me up for failure" (which he OBVIOUSLY WASN'T DOING!). Poor, poor E. Last but not least, "Pregnancy brain"- I can't remember ANYTHING. This literally happened: I was in the living room and thought of something. I thought to myself, "I should write that down". I immediately walked to the bedroom to type it into my phone's notes app.... and couldn't remember what I was supposed to write down.

Weight gain/loss: 10-15 lbs depending on the day (today it's 10! yusssss)

Maternity clothes: Mostly maternity tops. Non-maternity skirts and larger size nylons still fit. I also have some non maternity dresses that still work.
 
Stretch marks: Not yet! Possibly the beginnings of some on my left hip.

Sleep: Still exhausted. Restless legs at night are still in full swing, but once in awhile I'm so tired I can fall asleep through it. Super insomniac in full gear. Really helps the mood swings. ;)

Best moment since last week: I bought a pregnancy belly belt thingy and it's been a game changer. It gently lifts my belly and I think I have to pee a little less, my back hurts a little less, and I'm less sore/crampy while out for walks. Seriously.

Also, Shavuos was from Tuesday night until Thursday night and that was fun and exhausting.

Movement: Baby is moving a lot! Usually when I eat or lay down. Sometimes it's really "hard". And it's always riiiiight on the rare occasions that I'm actually about to fall asleep. 

Cravings/Aversions: I'm still more grossed out by things than craving them. Still will kill for coffee. We found this dip at a local grocery store- it's like chimichurri but with mayonnaise (appetizing, I know) but it's DELICIOUS (E is also obsessed) and I want to eat it all the time. We've only bought it once so far but I reallllly want to go back for more. Also, Kettle salt and vinegar chips and lemonade.

Gender: Confirmed!! But Idk if we're going to tell...

Labor signs: Hopefully not anyyytime soon.

Belly button:  Innie

What I miss: Sleeping. Mixed drinks. Sushi. Laying on my stomach. Not having a million aches and pains at any given time.... although the massages I'm getting from E are still pretty awesome. Being able to go 20 mins without peeing!

What I am looking forward to: Viability?! Idk. Everything.

21 Week Update

This was an overall amazing week. E worked Sunday, Monday and Tuesday overnights but then we went out to dinner Wednesday night (a dairy restaurant on the UWS), then walked to a subway station that's farther away because I was too full. We bumped into the Edge of Tomorrow premiere- actually, E wasn't paying attention and almost literally walked through it. He'd have been apprehended by the 30 security guards but he legit didn't believe me that there was a movie premiere happening until we saw this guy: 

Some quick Googling told me it was the Edge of Tomorrow premiere and that Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise were the ones the paparazzi were flipping out over. Pretty cool.

On Thursday we took the ferry to Governor's Island. They just started opening it during the week this month so we pretty much had the island to ourselves:

Then we went to dinner in Midtown to a steak restaurant. We spend a small fortune and it hurt but it was really good. Thennn on Friday we had a lazy morning and then walked around Park Slope and Downtown Brooklyn in search of a belly belt (more on that later) but couldn't find one (one store only had a larger size and another store had ones that were too small and two other stores had nothing!). We ate at home Friday night- a dairy meal, so we could eat a dairy ice cream cake for my birthday!! and then went to friends for Shabbos lunch on Saturday. Afterwards we walked to Prospect Park and got in some quality people watching. 

On Sunday we got breakfast with friends and then E and I went to DUMBO to his favorite used book store: 

 And we also went to the park there: 

 Got a ton of sun this week (no tan to show for it though, ha ha) and walked at least 3 miles on each outing (sometimes quite a bit more), so we're feeling pretty good. It was an awesome week. It was a nice welcome to "the big 2-9", which I'd been straight-up dreading.

Oh, and we got a new shower curtain. ;) (Gotta throw some "furbishing" in here occasionally since nothing major's happening lately!! I actually need to throw together a nursery mood board soon- we've got big ideas brewing!) 

How far along: 21 weeks 6 days

Size of baby:  Pomegranate, or banana/carrot. Whoa, nelly.

Physical symptoms: When walking for awhile, under my belly is crampy and feels weighed down- thinking of getting a pregnancy belt thing. Some nausea. Super constipated. Super bloated after eating. Restless legs when I lay down. EXHAUSTED. Super thirsty. Need to pee every 5 seconds. Some food aversions. Big time "Pregnancy brain". Feet are still killlllling if I'm standing/walking around for long. Dry skin; especially my chest- I got lanolin cream and that's a little helpful but when they hurt, they HUUUURT. Headaches, stuffy nose (allergies!).

Weight gain/loss: 10+ lbs.... I checked tonight and it was 17lbs and I pretty much cried a little, but I've been constipated for quiiiite a few days and I don't usually weigh myself at night so... y'know. Also, it was my 29th birthday this week so I may have overindulged for like 4 days straight.

Maternity clothes: Mostly maternity tops. Non-maternity skirts and nylons still fit somehow. I also have some non maternity dresses that still work.
 
Stretch marks: Not yet!

Sleep: I'm still exhausted. I actually was so tired that I passed out a couple of times without restless leg issues, but the other nights were still pretty lame in the sleep department.

Best moment since last week: OMG. E felt the baby!!!!!! The baby's been moving around a lot at night when I lay down, and I thought I could feel it from the outside so I showed E where to put his hand. I kept my poker face on to test him and he really felt when it happened!!! That was super nice and cute and emotional. E loved it- he put his cheek to the spot and felt it that way, and kissed the spot and felt it that way too. Ugh. It was adorbs. And then he sang some Irish/Scottish songs to the baby and I melted and died a little. Def my #1 moment of maybe Life.

Our next door neighbor also called me out this week- first person to do so. She saw us outside and was like "You lookin' a little puffy- When's Puffy due??" Haha. Look- if anyone else had called me "puffy" I would have slapped then, but she's well-intentioned and just, idk, the type of personality that can get away with that crap. Idk! That happened. 

Movement: Yep! Usually when I lay down at night, but also starting occasionally throughout the day too!

Cravings/Aversions: I'm still more grossed out by things than craving them. I haven't been super craving or wanting sweet things (I love love love ice cream cake and E got one for my birthday but when he brought it out after dinner Friday night I just ate some of the frosting and and "oreo" off of it and then we saved it for "later" but "later" hasn't happened yet!). But I kill for coffee. I'm not drinking it every day but I'm so much happier and well adjusted whenever I do. Eeek. I'm also kind of into mildly spicy things again.

Gender: Confirmed!! But idk if we're going to tell...

Labor signs: Hopefully not anyyytime soon.

Belly button:  Innie

What I miss: Sleeping. Mixed drinks. Laying on my stomach. Not having a million aches and pains at any given time.... although the massages I'm getting from E are still pretty awesome. Being able to go 20 mins without peeing!

What I am looking forward to: Viability? Idk. Everything.

And here's a pic of me looking super huge and bloated after eating junk food for pretty much 5 days straight. ;) Puh-lease IGNORE the super messy bathroom!