20 Weeks

How many weeks?: 20 Weeks

How big is baby?: Banana - 10.0 inches (starting now to measure from head to toes instead of head to rump) & 10.5 ounces.

Gender: Girl

Weight Gain: I have gained 9.2 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing my maternity tops. I will need to buy bottoms soon though with the weather changing.

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors, with pops of color. We won't start the nursery until we move.

Symptoms: I have been feeling like myself lately. I did throw up once a few days ago though.

Cravings: Fruit still.

Sleep: I'm back to my 4 pillows. I like them better at this point.

What I Miss: Nothing right now.

Best Moment This Week: We started our birthing class. We choose to do the Bradley Method. 

What am I looking forward to?: Feeling baby's kicks. My placenta is anterior so I haven't felt anything yet. I was told between 20-22 weeks, but I have heard of people that didn't feel anything until even later. 

Next Appointment: October 21st I have my 24 week appointment with my midwife. 

What Is Baby's Gender?!

On Saturday we hosted a baby gender reveal brunch! We had some delicious food, and family and friends to visit with! Finally we got to the cake reveal - wahoo! 

The aunties are so excited to find out!

I made some fun gender reveal pancakes!

And the winner goes to....

It's A Girl!!

Another little girl to add to the group!

My mom and sister Sarah pointing to the pink cake - another little princess coming!

Pink cake!

We went out and got Emily her first girl outfit!

Well, there you have it! The Sellands are adding a baby girl to their family!!

19 Weeks

How many weeks?: 19 Weeks

How big is baby?: Zesty Zucchini - 6.0 inches & 9 ounces.

Gender: Unknown!!

Weight Gain: I have gained 7.4 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: I have worn a few shirts/sweaters that are maternity. I have yet to buy any pants that are maternity as I can still fit into my leggings and jeans (unzipped) ;)

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors. We won't start the nursery until we move.

Symptoms: I have been feeling like myself lately... I've heard this is the joy of second trimester! :) 

Cravings: Fruit for the most part.

Sleep: I've swapped my pillows for the maternity pillow, but I may swap back, I kind of like the pillows as I can move them to the areas I want right now.

What I Miss: Nothing right now.

Best Moment This Week: We went to the anatomy scan. We got to see baby moving, kicking, and hanging out. It seems so unreal. This is our baby! We made this together!

What am I looking forward to?: Finding out the baby's gender tomorrow!!!! EEK!

Next Appointment: Next Tuesday I have an appointment with a new midwife. I am switching from my doctor's office to a midwife who practice's on her own. I am doing this because I want to give birth at a birthing center instead of a hospital.

House Inspection

We had the inspection on our house on Saturday. For the most part it went well or according to how we thought it would go. There was one issue we hadn't anticipated, but there are a few pipes that will probably need to be re-piped. It's not a whole lot of money, but it's definitely unexpected and will need to be budgeted. Luckily there was nothing major, like a foundation issue.

At this point if it wasn't a short sale we could have potentially asked for certain things to be fixed. With a short sale, if it was something major we could have asked them to reduce the price by the amount of the fix. Nothing was too big, so we have accepted the inspection as is.

Next on the list is the appraisal. Our lender will get our inspection papers Monday and will order that. No one has to be present for the appraisal. As long as the appraisal says are house is worth at least the amount we are buying it at, then our lenders will finance the house. I'm not too worried. I believe the house will appraise just fine. After that, we just have to supply all required financial documents and wait to close.

18 Weeks

How many weeks?: 18 Weeks

How big is baby?: Sweet Potato - 5.6 inches & 5.6 ounces.

Gender: Unknown! 

Weight Gain: I have gained 7 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: I am still sometimes wear summer dresses for work. Last weekend we went shopping for some new clothes as it's getting colder and I'm getting bigger. I got 2 bras, 2 tank tops, 1 lounge shirt, and 2 sweaters. I'll need some pants in the near future I am sure, and probably some more tops. 

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors. We won't start the nursery until we move.

Symptoms: I got sick once last weekend. It's becoming like once a week or a little less. 

Cravings: Fruit. Yum!

Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty good with all of my pillows. I only wake up once a night to pee. I dream almost every night. It's a little annoying as I feel like it's interfering with my deep sleep, but what can I do?

What I Miss: I think it would be nice to have a drink every once in a while. I rarely drink in general, but now that I can't at all, I notice it a little more. We are going to Canada with some friends in a month, which some will drink, and I shall not.

Best Moment This Week: We finally have our ultrasound on Wednesday! 5 days! And then 8 days until we know the gender!!

What am I looking forward to?: Finding out the baby's gender in 8 days!!

Next Appointment: The anatomy scan on Wednesday. We are also meeting with another midwife that day too so we can hopefully switch our birthing place to the Birthing Inn instead of the hospital.

Did we get approved?

The second extension deadline on our house was Wednesday September 3rd at 1pm. What did the bank end up doing?! We got a text from Jeanne at 1pm that day that the bank APPROVED the short sale of the house! After 4 months of waiting, we can finally move along in the process. 

We are working with our financing now, as they had to sit still until the approval. We have our inspection on Saturday at noon. Once that's over, our lenders will schedule the appraisal. We are crossing our fingers both of those go well, or at least good enough! :)

We have heard the scheduled closing date is October 21st. Jeanne will try to get it closed sooner once financing is completely ready. If not, we will just be ready and waiting for the date to come.

What are our plans when we get the house? We will immediately get the popcorn ceiling off, paint the walls, tear up carpet and install laminate hardwood floors, and hopefully install a 2nd bathroom. Maybe we can even throw in new appliances, if not, we will try for Black Friday. This will all be done before we move in, or that's the plan. Wish us luck!!

1st Anniversary Weekend

We just celebrated our very first of many, many anniversaries! What a weekend it was, not really how we imagined it, but it came and went nonetheless. 

We started Saturday off and running. Jesse took apart the dishwasher to see why it hasn't been cleaning our dishes and the heating element is fried. So, it looks like we are hand washing until the part comes in. We left to go to the zoo that morning and got ourselves a membership. We look forward to going more before and after baby comes along so we are excited to have the pass now. However, this particular day at the zoo was super hot and it was SO packed. Before we left, we had to visit the gift shop. I got a purple scarf and future baby got an elephant board book.

We left the zoo and went to Tuesday Morning because I had my $50 gift certificate that I won! We got things we needed/wanted for the house. Then we went home, ate some delicious anniversary cake, and watched a movie! Sounds like our kind of night! ;)

Sunday morning (our actual anniversary) we worked on the house - cleaning all of those dishes by hand. By early afternoon the plumbing got backed out in our house, getting into the shower, and we didn't get it fixed until about 6:30pm. What a nightmare that was... Happy anniversary, how about do some house work and have things in your house breakdown on you! Oh well, everyday is a day to show our love to each other. I'm not too upset about the events on Sunday.

Anniversary gifts! We have a budget for gift giving, but we must give each other 1 gift that follows the traditional anniversary.

Jesse got: 

1. A Keurig machine, two books
2. A Tapas cookbook 
3.  "My dad is fantastic" kid's book! :) 
4. For his traditional gift, I gave him a big nice journal for us to write in through the years - letters, updates, etc.

Ashley got: 

1. A teapot set that included a teapot, cream and sugar pieces. It is from the Royal Albert collection Old County Roses.
2. A pinafore apron.
3. A passport book to the National Parks. We can get a stamp when we go to each one. This gift will be so cool to collect as many stamps as we can through the years.
4. A beautiful handwritten letter - my traditional paper gift.

In other news, I am reading a gardening book and I plan to have my first real garden next year. I am going to start planning for it now - what do I want in the garden, where will it be located, and I will make a timeline of when to plant seeds, go outdoors, etc... I know I will have little one so I need to take that into account on how much I can really do. Yes, I am planning so far in advance, but that's me! :)

16 Weeks

How many weeks?: 16 Weeks

How big is baby?: Avocado - 4.6 inches & 3.5 ounces.

Gender: Unknown! 

Weight Gain: I have gained 4.2 pounds total. 

Maternity Clothes: I am still in summer dresses for work and I haven't needed maternity clothing.

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors. We won't start the nursery until we move... whenever that happens.

Symptoms: I was super excited on Thursday that it had gone a whole week since I got sick. I came home, was super hungry and made dinner. Minutes after I ate it came back up. I was really thinking the morning sickness was going away. I still get very lightheaded every morning and I have to lay down for a few minutes after my shower. I am not sure why, but it always seems to happen. Also, my stomach area is getting pretty hard and it's really turning into a nice bump!

Cravings: McDonald's french fries still! 

Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty good with all of my pillows. I only wake up once a night to pee.

What I Miss: I was thinking about this coming winter and how Jesse and I talked about skiing. That won't be happening. Oh well.

Best Moment This Week: Our first anniversary!!

What am I looking forward to?: Finding out the baby's gender next month!

Next Appointment: This Friday, August 29th for a routine monthly appointment. Before my appointment I have to stop at another office to do the 2nd trimester blood work for genetic testing.

No Approval Yet

We are still waiting on our short sale house. We signed a 2 week extension 2 weeks ago. We will now have to sign one last extension since they couldn't get it approved in time. Our real estate agent, Jeanne aka "mother-in-law" ha, will ask how much time the bank needs, and we will do the extension for exactly that long, no more. Last thing we heard is there was one more task to complete on Monday and today we had to send another document in that they were missing. We also heard they accepted our offer price - so that is good news! Hoping this gets approved soon as we are all frustrated with this transaction, from us to Jeanne to the seller's agent.

I will surely update the blog once we have an official answer, but until then, we are all just sitting around waiting to find out.

15 Weeks

15 weeks & 3 days 

How many weeks?: 15 Weeks

How big is baby?: Navel Orange - 4 inches & 2.5 ounces.

Gender: Unknown! 

Weight Gain: I have gained 4.8 pounds. 

Maternity Clothes: I don't have to wear any yet! I am still in summer dresses for work.

Nursery: It will be elephant themed (my favorite animal) with grey and white colors. We won't start the nursery until we move.

Symptoms: I am still getting sick here and there, but nothing too bad. 

Cravings: McDonald's french fries! Mmmm! Wait, am I having a boy?!

Sleep: Sleep is still normal. I wake up to pee nightly and use 4 pillows to sleep

What I Miss: Not being able to go on rides as the Puyallup fair is coming next month.

Best Moment This Week: I had a ton of energy the past week/weekend and the house house is clean! It's beautiful! I even had enough energy to make breakfast both weekend days, and then make homemade cinnamon rolls on Sunday! I'm on a roll...

What am I looking forward to?: Finding out the baby's gender next month!

Next Appointment: August 29th for a routine monthly appointment.