Baby Bump

My humps, my humps, my lovely baby bump.

Every time I see the term "baby bump," the Black Eyed Peas song starts playing in my mind.

I belong to an Internet group of women expecting in May 2012. It's a fun outlet where I can ask questions, provide some insight to first time moms to be, vent about pregnancy related symptoms, and not have to worry about annoying people with the constant pregnancy chatter.

Every Wednesday, we have "Hump Day Bump Day" and post pictures of our growing bellies. I quickly snap my self-portraits in the bathroom at work (keeping it classy as always) since it's still dark and too early in the mornings when I'm getting ready at home.

25 weeks

26 weeks

I thought I'd document the last couple of shots here on the ol' blog. Feeling large and in charge! (And nervous knowing I'm still going to get much, much bigger.)

Valentine's Day

I was a very lucky girl this year for Valentine's Day and my loved ones made me feel very special.

Jim and I typically don't make much of a fuss for the holiday but we still like to recognize the special day for each other.

I kicked off Valentine's Day by asking Ethan what he wanted for his breakfast. I told him I'd make him anything he wanted and gave him some ideas of cinnamon rolls, heart toast, and scrambled eggs. His special breakfast choice? Half Cinnamon Toast Crunch and half Cheerios cereal for breakfast. I guess he had been thinking about how cool it would be to mix together different types of cereal. So I got off easy with no morning cooking or baking required.

When I got home from work, this basket of home made treats was waiting for me in the living room from my Mom and Dad.

One of my Mom's co-workers sells these gift baskets and I was a lucky recipient of one. I had one of the cookies today after lunch and it was very good - buttery and just the right amount of sweetness.

I had tweeted this earlier in the day:

Jim knows what my heart desires and this gorgeous box of Harry London chocolates were just what I was hoping for! I also love the packaging layout of the chocolates and that they aren't just laid out in standard rows. Plus, it came with a picture guide...I hate when assorted chocolates don't come with a guide. I was even more excited when I looked at the guide and liked every kind that was included - no weird flavors and no coconut.



I also received these roses. Don't worry, they aren't this blurry in person.

For Jim, I made him a card. Sappy Valentine's cards just don't fit his personality or our relationship. (For instance, he gave me a joint card with Ethan and it featured Spider Man.)

The card featured a picture of cupid shooting arrows at a target and I put "My husband is a better shot than cupid." I then gave him a gift certificate that he could pick out his Valentine's Day gift at this weekend's Gun Show event. I tied it to the card by saying that I wanted to keep his accuracy up so that his love would always find its' target and that he better have the right equipment and supplies.

We wrapped up Valentine's Day by watching Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day special as a family. We will, hopefully, go out to a restaurant this weekend since we didn't want to face the crowds yesterday.

I hope you all had a very special Valentine's Day!

Baby Knowles is a...

 GIRL!

We found out right before my birthday that we are expecting a little girl.

I had no instinct as to what gender the baby may be. The pregnancy has been very different from Ethan's, but I felt our family history of all boys probably outweighed everything else. Some of the different symptoms with this little girl have been breakouts, all day nausea, throwing up, and just feeling icky/sick most of the time. With my boy, my skin never looked better, I threw up occasionally but didn't feel sick, and I loved being pregnant. I finally started feeling better at around 22 weeks this time around. Now pregnancy is getting to be a little bit more fun and enjoyable.

With Ethan, my biggest cravings were Sour Patch Kids, Sugar Babies, and Ketchup/Mayo combo on hamburgers or french fries. This time I'm loving lemon anything, donuts and pastries. There is a lemon danish at our local bakery that I could eat every.single.day.

When the ultrasound tech told us we were expecting a girl, Jim and I couldn't stop giggling. The giggling and disbelief lasted for a couple of days. We have nephews on both sides of our family, but no little girls, so we figured we were destined to have boys. This will be the first granddaughter for both sets of our parents. We have a feeling this little one will have her grandpa's wrapped around her fingers.

Right now, I'm overwhelmed at all the things I need to learn about with a little girl. Like what the heck is a "ruffle butt" or "baby legs" and do I need them? Baby trends have changed a lot since Ethan was born and I feel like I'm starting over from scratch. As far as baby gear, we'll reuse Ethan's baby furniture, but will obviously need to get a new wardrobe for little Miss. Knowles. We'll also need to replace our car seat and travel system since they have long expired since Ethan was a baby. That's what we get for having so many years between our little ones. Oh well...looking at the bright side of good excuses to shop. And, of course, little girl items are so cute!

Christmas Recap...2 months late

I've been a total slacker to this blog lately. So I'm recapping Christmas by just posting a few pictures. It seems silly to post them now, so late and untimely, but I like having the family record that this blog provides so I've decided to post them anyway.

Ethan's stack of presents at Papa & Grandma Knowles' home on Christmas Eve.

Transformer from Papa & Grandma Knowles.

Santa brought a Transformer, too!

Biggest hits on Christmas Day - Angry Birds game and Hot Wheels track.

My Christmas gift from Jim - a new glider for the baby. It is so comfortable!