Halfway There!

We made it!  I hit 20 weeks this last week and we're so excited.  Just 20 more weeks until we get to see our little baby girl in person!  We tried really hard to get a picture but as you all know, I am the least photogenic person in the whole world.  So it took a couple tries.  Enjoy my awkward photo shoot.

My sad face after my husband so "kindly" reminded me that I don't photograph well...

I'm trying so hard to make my belly pop out, it just doesn't seem to want to!

Stretching it out like that didn't feel so good.

And finally, a decent photo!  It only took what, 6 tries to get one?  Up until 19 weeks I felt like I was finally getting a belly and then in the last week it would appear that my belly shrunk.  

For even more exciting news, I finally felt her kick on Friday evening!  Since that very definite kick, I've felt her moving around quite a bit.  It's kind of a weird queasy feeling really.  I feel like I have a fish swimming around in there!  She really seems to be an active little thing judging from the ultrasounds we've gotten and from the movements that I have felt.  Bring on the next 20 weeks!

Ultrasound Photos

As many of you know, we had our big 18 week ultrasound on Friday morning.  While we were already pretty darn positive that our little one is a girl, we now know for sure!  So that was good news.  The only downside to knowing for sure now is that I've gotten really baby clothes hungry and I could easily go to the mall and drop a couple hundred dollars at gap alone just because everything is so cute.  Don't worry, I haven't done that.  If any of you come to visit me though, I'd be happy to go shopping with you!  After the ultrasound was done and she finished getting all the measurements into the computer, my due date was calculated as November 2nd instead of the assumed November 7th.  Since this is only a 5 day difference in time, it is unlikely that my doctor will want to change my due date but we'll see in a few weeks at my next visit with him.  With this new calculation though, I am now 19 weeks and 2 days along instead of the presumed 18 weeks and 4 days along.  Again, not much of a difference but somehow it makes me feel like my daughter is so advanced because she's growing like a champ! :)  It's so crazy to me to think that this baby is still so tiny in comparison to how big she'll be when she's born.  She's only the size of a large heirloom tomato about now, which is around 5 1/2 inches apparently. That seems like a huge tomato to me!  But still a rather small baby.  I'm not really showing that much, even though I feel like my belly has gotten so big!  Depending on the shirt, I either look like I have a nice little belly growing or I don't even look pregnant.  I guess someday my belly will make a real entrance, I'll try to be patient.

Nate also wanted me to announce that she will most likely be named Olivia Christine Breneman.  While we are still reserving the right to change this name at any given time, he doesn't want anyone stealing it because he's very attached to it (so am I but Nate is much more defensive about these things).  You have been warned!

Now for the pictures!

She was so mad about being pushed around for an hour she was ready to pinch someone

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.  (once they're dead, shhhhh.....)(Sheri and Joseph might be the only people that get that)  Then there's that little face creeping out of the top corner there.  The lady didn't give us any other pictures of her face because they were all WAY too creepy looking.

Mmmmm Tasty!

Normally I don't do this kind of thing... but I actually cooked dinner yesterday!  Since being pregnant, I've actually felt the need to make myself real dinners even when I'm home by myself at night.  I think a lot of that probably has to do with me craving every type of Mexican food and that I only get to eat those foods if I cook them for myself when Nate isn't home.  Yesterday in particular, I really really wanted some chili verde.  I figured in the crock pot would be the easiest way to make it.  I found a recipe online that seemed pretty good but I made some adjustments to make it more what I wanted.  And here is what I ended up with!

My rice and chili cooking

Don't they look yummy?  (yes... they do.)

The chili is amazing on top of the rice.  Or also wrapped up in a tortilla.  I tried them both, they were SO good!

I suppose you might want the recipe for my yummy tastiness.  Here it is:

6 chicken tenders, cut into pieces

1 medium yellow onion, diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

olive oil

saute all of that together just long enough to cook the outside of the chicken, then add to the crock pot and dump in all of the following:

3-16 oz jars of Herdez salsa verde (it doesn't HAVE to be Herdez, but that's the best salsa verde ever so you should)

1 can of white beans

1 can of rotel original diced tomatoes (you could also use mild if you want less spicy but it's not that spicy)

1 1/2 cups of frozen white corn

stir it all together and leave it in the pot until it's all hot and bubbly and you're ready to eat it.  It can be ready in as little as 3 hours if you cook it on high.

as for the rice on the side, it was just basic mexican rice but it was the perfect addition.  I will absolutely be making this again.

It's a GIRL!

So we had a random little trip to the doctor's office today...  And we figured while they were looking around anyways that we might as well just peek again.  It would appear that the small flicker of a maybe something that could have been a boy part was the umbilical cord.  Everything is still going great with our baby girl (although I apparently need more fiber in my diet) and even though the doctor still wouldn't diagnose her officially as a female (because I still have to go in to the hospital next week and get the 18 week ultrasound anyways), we feel like it would be just plain silly to say we don't know the gender anymore because well.....  That is a lady part.  I don't mean to be inappropriate but I really don't think you can question whether or not this is a boy or girl.

Hopefully my dear sweet baby won't hate me when she's older because I posted her girly bits on the internet for all to see!  Nate is of course terrified to have a girl but he's also so very excited.  There is no doubt in my mind that this little angel will have her Daddy wrapped around her tiny little finger.

Memorial Day

This memorial day, Nate and I actually both had the same holiday off!  I don't think this has ever happened before in our entire marriage.  Except maybe Christmas, but even that was a close call.  Since neither of us knew we would have the day off until the Friday before, we didn't really make any plans for it.  That morning, we decided it would be nice to put something pretty into the planter boxes we have on our porch.  We went to Lowe's and ended up finding a lot of really pretty flowers on sale.  We might have ended up buying more than we originally meant to...  After we got home, Nate made me a delicious enchilada for lunch while I started the planting.  

I didn't get a before picture but I started with the 2 long planter boxes, the red/pink pot and then the bigger green pot.  The original idea was just to fill the 2 long boxes.

After getting all the plants in good spaced positions, I watered them

I got a really pretty calla lily for my pink pot.

 And then I planted what didn't fit into the last pot.

 Now my porch looks pretty!  Since planting these on Monday, I have had quite a few more blooms on the little cactus looking ones, they make such pretty flowers that almost look like mini roses!  I'm very proud of my flowers :)

And here I am at 16 weeks and 5 days

Well that was a bummer!

We went to the doctor for our 16 week appointment today.  We did get another ultrasound but it wasn't really conclusive on the gender.  Our little babe had those legs spread wide open like it was trying to show us what it is!  However, because we didn't get to have one of the really fancy pants ultrasounds this time around and because I'm only 16 weeks at this point, he couldn't say for sure.  There was nothing in between the legs, which could mean girl, and I really think it is, or it could just mean there is a little boy that hasn't quite manifested yet.  Nate is still holding out for boy parts.  Luckily, we don't have to wait another 4 weeks for the next ultrasound!  Since the next ultrasound is through the hospital instead of through our doctor office, they want us to go in at 18 weeks and then back in to my normal doctor for my 20 week visit.  So in about 2 weeks we will have the conclusive test that will measure brain development and bone growth and determine my official due date as well as giving us a very clear picture of the baby's gender parts.  So... the gender poll is still open at the top right part of the screen, if you haven't voted yet, then you need to!  If you have voted, you may want to change to girl :p

Just kidding!

If the Old Wives and their tales are correct....

Of course I had to do an old wives tale tally before my ultrasound tomorrow to see if there is any truth to these whatsoever.  So here are the ones I found and my answers:

Am I craving sweet or salty foods?
-definitely salty.  In fact a lot of the time I crave salt itself and couldn't care less what it's in.  Then again, I rarely if ever, craved sweet or sugary foods before I was pregnant, so it's not weird to me.  But this one says BOY

Am I carrying low or high? Or front or wide?- I personally don't think I'm even far enough along to know if it's high or low, but I feel like I'm growing out the sides more than out the front so I'll say wide.  This one says GIRL

Have I had bad morning sickness?
-Yes and No...  It's been pretty darn bad for me considering the last time I threw up prepregnancy was when I was a kid, even though I have had times where I was plenty sick enough to do so.  However, there are people out there who threw up WAY more than I ever did so I don't know if it's really fair for me to say i've had morning sickness compared to them.  But i'm going to say yes anyways.  So this one says GIRL

Chinese Gender Predictor?
-This one says BOY

Mayan Gender Predictor?
-This one says BOY

Have I gotten more or less beautiful with pregnancy?
-Nate says i'm crazy but I say less!  I have had way more zits and even in places that I wouldn't normally be getting them!  Also my skin has gotten really pale and splotchy.  I am definitely not glowing.  This one says GIRL.

Is the fetal hearbeat fast or slow?
-At my first ultrasound, the heartbeat was a high 160bpm.  This one says GIRL.

So that is 3 for BOY and 4 for GIRL.  I have this gut feeling that it's going to be a boy though.  I can't explain why, I just keep feeling like it is.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow!!  Everyone watch your phones in the afternoon, you'll be getting a text!