Time is flying!!!

Okay so I've been out of the e-world for two weeks... aside from the occasional facebook chat or e-mail that is!  Mexico was very relaxing, we were there for a full 6 days and then 2 days of 1/2 day traveling... that's the worst I must say is just all the flying that exhausts you.  Our condo was beautiful it was a 3 bedroom 4 bathroom with a full kitchen, living room w/tv & dvd player, 3 balconies, outdoor shower, outdoor dipping pool (size of a hot tub) and it had a hammock, two lounge chairs and a full outdoor patio dining set!  It was the size of a house, it was so wonderful.  The only bummer was like most of the unique, hillside hotels there are no elevators!  This preggo gal here walked up and down the stairway (100 steps!!!) 2-4 times a day.  Talk about burning some major calories haha!

We ate at a few really good places, my goal was to find the best Tortilla Soup -- but I still say the one in the What to Eat/Eating Well pregnancy book is by far the best!  Go figure.  One day Ryan bought me and my mom these really pretty shell necklaces... they almost resembled banana chips!  My mom's is solid black and I got a purple one and then a multi-color one.  I love it!!! That same day Ryan got totally wasted -- his "once a year blackout" -- he puked 4 times within probably 1-1.5 hours and kept saying "i'm fine, really i'm fine" -- he doesn't even recall a moment of all this, LOL.  It was funny afterward to me because I know if I hadn't been pregnant I probably would have been in those same shoes, but I felt bad because no one likes getting that drunk in public or having the aftermath.  I was surprised though he didn't even have a hangover!  Lucky Duck.

My belly has started getting bigger, but no official bump yet.  I didn't take many pictures and only have 1 (not so good) photo of myself with my family... blah.  Oh well, the beautiful sunset photo's will have to do for the baby album instead.  One night last week my belly button was literally just HURTING so Ryan took me back to the condo and I realized my belly button was wanting to pop to an OUTTIE, what the heck!  I can now pull back the sides of my belly button and "push" it out... its kind of creepy.  Needless to say, I've retired the ol' belly button ring and going to let the piercing heal up... Ryan being the loving husband he is told me that post-baby (and post baby weight loss!) if I want to get it re-pierced he'd pay for me to do so. Aww.  Actually though it was such a juvenile thing of me (I was 18, in college and bored so a friend and I got piercings) and IMO I think it is kind of a sex symbol / "single" person kind of trademark... I'd rather just have a nice fit body post-baby and not try to look like some 'sexy mama'.

Today my MIL comes in to town, it should be fun... I plan to take her to Babies R Us and show her the few things we are going to get for baby once we're in the house.  We decided we're going to use the pack 'n play as a bassinet in our bedroom for awhile and get a crib later on -- mostly due to finances but also because everyone has been telling us that most babies don't sleep in their cribs until they're a few months old.  Plus we figure it'll be summer time and we'll probably be downstairs most of the time or outside so it'll make sense to have something more portable to use rather than buying a bassinet and a crib or what not.

TSO

Over the weekend we drove to Birmingham and saw the 3:00pm show for Trans Siberian Orchestra!!  It was our first time going and I bought tickets on RazorGator for floor seats in the 2nd row!!!  And we were fortunate to have end seats, which is nice because those seats were a little small.

The show was INCREDIBLE... I can't wait to see them again!  We were so close you could read their lips when they mouthed something, like one rocker yelled out "Sweeeeeet" and the guitar players ran across the stage and at one point were like 5 feet in front of us!!! The fiddler was only 24 years old and was amazing, she ran around the floor to perform at the back of the stadium and even stopped for a picture for one lucky aisle seat person!  They had a narrator telling the story of Christmas that themed well with the songs... at one point he said "Snow" and it started "Snowing" --- bubbles, but it looked like snow across the floor seats and was just incredible!!! They had these cat walks that came out of the ceiling and they were able to run down them to see the audience in the back of the place, it was just real cool.  They played amazing songs I caught a bunch on film and some amazing pics!!!


If you've never been -- you HAVE to go, but get seats close to the stage!!!!

feeling more filled out!

I feel so much better this week.  I look more filled out, my skin is stretching (and itchy!!!) but when I look in the mirror I just feel better about myself.  Last Friday Ryan told me my "neck feels thinner" -- umm, thanks?  I do feel like even my arms are toned up but I don't know how!?  My belly is growing but it's starting to look more like a pregnant belly, not just flubber.  I have been feeling baby kick 2-3 times a day for the past week, my nurse said it's possible and you can't mistake these jabs/pokes!!! My nausea has calmed down quite a bit, I think I'll just go back to my b-natal lollipop's and lozenges as well as tums.  I'm really nervous to go to Mexico next week with the whole symptom train but at least it's calmed down a lot.  We'll see how our first major flight - Atlanta to Seattle - goes... ugh.  Cooper is laying in the chair next to me, sound asleep, I'm going to miss him as much as he annoys the heck out of me!!!  I've been craving cereal a lot more lately -- and MILK!!!! Today I had a big bowl of cheerios w/frozen berries.  I woke up with a migraine at 5am but the Tylenol has almost kicked it to the curb.  My other cravings have been for Jalapeno chips and green chicken curry, but only from the Thai place back home in WA =[ ...no one here makes it the same or as authentic tasting.  I'm going to need to make a trip back to WA for a week solely for a food tasting at all my favorite hang outs.  Anyways, here is my 15 weeks photo... I have to learn to update this more often but I'm just so excited with going to Mexico, then a friend visiting with her three boys & then my mother in law coming to down a few days after that!!!  Exciting!!!!

Photo!

 

I'm up 9 pounds total in 10 weeks (since finding out I was pregnant) ...gained 2 this past week, let's just blame it on the milk cravings ~ I drink 2-3 large glasses a day!!! Definitely seeing growth, guess I'll be shopping this weekend for cozier pants... can't live in sweats forever!  Oh yah and I can't even hold that in... I tried. =\

Woo Hoo 14 Weeks!!

Yesss... I made it to 14 weeks, such an accomplishment!  Time really has been flying since the ultrasound 4 weeks ago!  We have an appointment tomorrow and *fingers crossed* hope that we get to hear the heartbeat.  I know it'll probably be a simple routine check-up: check my weight, pee test, blood pressure, check my symptoms, etc... hopefully we can schedule our 20 week gender ultrasound!!! 

I'll have to take a belly pic today, I neglected last week with it being Thanksgiving!! 


I've been bargain shopping lately and don't it feel good!!!  Let's see to start I had a $10 Victoria Secret "Rewards" Gift Card so I used that plus got Free Shipping (on $50+) and a Free Limited Edition Panty ($7 value!) ...along with 4 tank tops that were $7.99ea, reg $14.50 [savings of $26.04 total] and then with my growing belly I got a pair of Signature Sweat Pants for $25.00, reg $39.50 [savings of $14.50] so basically I saved a total of about $47.54... and then I got $10.00 off with the gift card, so I saved $57.54 ~ my total with taxes came to $52!  Not Bad!!!

Then I went to use an Eversave Coupon Code I had to redeem them for these custom mini purses.  I got my MIL and my mom each one... they have custom fabric on the outside and satin inside even the zipper color was customizable!  The unfortunate is that they take 7-14 days :(  Oh Well!  They only cost me $10 for shipping.  You see, on Eversave I had $20 savings from a friend joining.  Then they had a $4 discount code for Black Friday.  So I got the 'save' for free and the purses came to $52 (the total value of the save before discount)... woo hoo!  Free Gifts!!!

Another deal I got yesterday was on OneKingsLane ~ I got baby their first toy, but of course it says recommended age 2+... oops!  It's a peg/hammer set... you know where baby can take out frustration and bang on the pegs to go through the holes hahaha!  It was $7 ...I had a free $15 credit from joining in September.  Shipping was $7.95 so I got it free plus had 5 cents left over!!!

Then just now I signed my mom up for Health Magazine for free!  I had a $5 gift card code and the 10mo subscription was... $5!!! I paid nothing out of pocket, it's regularly $39.90 if you bought it on news stands!!! $34.90 savings... PLUS I bought this from a link with MyPoints.com ~ so I got 500 points (equivalent to almost $5) back!!! So it was like getting a free magazine PLUS being paid!!! Woot.

Ohh and then lastly ya'll know I'm building up my DVD collection... I got Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation for Ryan and my trip in 2 weeks... I got it on borders.com with a 33% discount code ~ then had a 10% bonus for being a plus member.  SO I got the movie for 43% off (about $10 with taxes, free shipping) ...the DVD alone on Borders is $15.99!